The Glasgow Warriors captain and Scottish international Kyle Steyn has praised the influence of Franco Smith following their United Rugby Championship title win against the Bulls.

Smith, who played for and coached the Free State and Cheetahs led the Scottish outfit to the historic title with a 21-16 win against the Bulls on Saturday at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria.

The former Griquas outside back Steyn said the former Springbok taught them to back themselves.

“When Franco came in, I think the biggest thing he had to do was to get us to believe and give us a sense of direction, ” said Steyn.

“You think back to drinking whiskey out of a polystyrene cup on one of his first days as our coach, and I think there were a lot of the boys that thought he was quite insane to be honest.

“The consistency in the conviction of how he goes about his business and what he believes in gave us a real sense of direction.

“Now looking back at drinking whisky out of those cups, and all of a sudden it doesn’t seem all that crazy.”

Franco Smith and Kyle Steyn - Morgan Piek

Smith explained that on one of his first days ahead took out a bottle of whisky and gave the players each a taste of the fire water and said that when they win a title there will be some of that as well as cigars to celebrate.

“When I started at Glasgow, one morning I took out some whisky for everybody to give them a wee taste of what it would be like to have a dram on the back of a win.

“I said ‘Savour that, keep it in your mind, and one day, as soon as we can win something, we will have an evening where we can have a dram of whisky and a cigar’, and I think these guys deserve that after the win.”

As a head coach, Smith has won the Varsity Cup with the Shimlas, two Currie Cups with the Cheetahs and now the URC with the Warriors.

Morgan Piek OFM Sport