Glasgow Warriors coach Franco Smith has had a lot of success in Scotland over the last few years.
As far back as 1998, Rassie Erasmus had first-hand experience of how Franco Smith enjoyed playing expansive, attacking rugby — a memory he might well recall as he ponders a long-term successor for departing attack mastermind Tony Brown.
In that memorable year for Nick Mallett’s Springboks, Smith twice started at flyhalf to cover for the injured Henry Honiball, while Erasmus packed down on the openside flanker. In the first instance, the Boks smashed Ireland 33-0 in the infamous ‘Battle of Loftus Versfeld’ — so termed because the outclassed tourists famously resorted to off-the-ball fisticuffs to slow the South Africans down.
Having warmed up in that five-try victory, Smith brilliantly pulled the strings a week later as the Boks annihilated Wales 96-13, once again at Loftus. They crossed the whitewash 15 times that night.
Erasmus and Smith’s paths would later cross at the Cheetahs. Smith served the Free Staters in various coaching roles between 2005 and 2019, interspersed with a successful six-year stint at Benetton (2007–2013). He later served as head coach of Italy (2019–2021) before landing his current role at the Glasgow Warriors.
