Glasgow must improve 'to compete at business end' - Smith
Glasgow head coach Franco Smith says Scottish sides must break a habit of being “too nervous” in big games if they are to become successful.
The national team have not won silverware in 25 years and are coming off another disappointing Six Nations, while Glasgow’s Pro12 triumph in 2015 remains the only major Scottish success of the professional era.
“Scottish teams in general, the big games they tend to be too nervous,” Smith told BBC Scotland.
“You concentrate so much on what you want out of the game instead of the process to be followed.
“It’s understandable, everyone here wants to win silverware and it’s a young bunch of players in certain areas specifically. We need to develop focus on what’s doable to win and not just want to win.”
Warriors performed well last season until their campaign fizzled out with a URC quarter-final defeat at home to Munster and a humbling loss at the hands of Toulon in the Challenge Cup final in Dublin.
With Glasgow currently sitting second in the URC table after Friday night’s victory over Sharks at Scotstoun, Smith wants his side to learn the lessons from the way their campaign petered out last year.
“We want to finish as high as possible but we want to also be comfortable with the brand that we play so we can take it into the playoffs," the South African said.
“Last year we played some good rugby, scored a lot of tries and got stuck in the quarter-final. We still need to build our brand and also our understanding of what we need to do in the final.
“This team is still evolving, and needs to get a lot better if we want to compete at the business end."
