Franco Smith not getting carried away after Glasgow Warriors' Champions Cup boilover

Glasgow Warriors coach Franco Smith is remaining grounded despite seeing his side open the Champions Cup pool stage with an impressive six-try, bonus-point win over Sale Sharks.

George Horne was the star man as the Scotland scrum-half notched a hat-trick of tries in a 38-19 win against the Premiership side at Scotstoun.

Smith, though, warned against any premature celebrations with just one match played so far in a potentially long campaign.

The Glasgow head coach said: “It’s obviously a good start. But we didn’t start that well last year against Northampton and still got to the round of 16.

“There’s a lot still to happen, also for the teams that lost (their opening match) in our pool. So, I’ll be reluctant at this stage to get overly excited.”

Next for Glasgow is a difficult trip to play Toulon in France next Sunday, a reprise of last season’s meeting that Warriors won comfortably at home.

Smith added: “It will be good to go there and back up last year’s performance. They are a tough team. They’ve got some real quality players. We know that. They’re different from what we faced (against Sale on Saturday night).

“So, it’s about how we adapt, how we change. Our player group must be managed right. And we must make sure the squad can help us maintain this intensity, this enthusiasm and this creativity.

“We will see how the guys look on Monday. And, obviously, I’ve got a plan. It’s going to be important to keep the momentum building. But, at the same time, we have to make sure that everybody is fresh and continues contributing.”