The silver lining for Glasgow Warriors after URC quarter-final exit

Glasgow head coach Franco Smith will take a silver lining out of their first home defeat of the season as he promised his players would be both fresh and determined to bounce back in their maiden European final.

Warriors suffered a 14-5 defeat by Munster on Saturday in the BKT United Rugby Championship quarter-finals.

Smith’s side paid the price for an inability to convert some sustained early pressure and a five-minute first-half period where Munster scored two tries either side of stand-off Tom Jordan’s red card for a dangerous tackle.

Victory would have sent Glasgow to Dublin for a semi-final against table-toppers Leinster on Saturday but they now get extra time to prepare for the European Challenge Cup final in the Irish capital against Toulon on May 19.

Smith said: “In all honesty, to ask these boys to play in two finals, from where we are in year one, would have been a huge task. Now, in retrospect, obviously not before.

“We were all in to win this, there was no talk about taking our foot off the pedal.

“But now we are going to be smart about it. We probably won’t train until way later this week.

“We are going to use the rest days in our benefit. There will be four or five days where we reset the bodies and get their minds liberated a little bit.

“I could sense in the dressing room there is so much determination to finish this season on a high.

“I am looking forward to making a proper plan for Toulon and then with freshly-recovered bodies to see if we can go and bring something back.”