No excuses. Franco Smith’s mantra remains the same as he prepares to lead Glasgow Warriors into arguably the toughest assignment of his two-year tenure as head coach.

Back at the stadium where he won the Currie Cup as a dashing fly-half a quarter of a century ago, the South African will look to mastermind a victory over his former club, the Bulls, in tomorrow night’s United Rugby Championship (URC) to deliver a first piece of silverware to Scotstoun for nine long seasons.

There have been legitimate questions asked all week about the lack of turnaround time given the distances involved – roughly 6000 miles as the crow flies – and the URC format that sees one team enjoy home advantage rather than having the final at a neutral venue.

The Warriors squad have made the long haul south in two separate dispatches, with little time to train or acclimatise to the thinner Pretoria air that can literally take the breath away. With more than 50,000 Bulls fans packed into a sold-out Loftus Versfeld – only the most devoted or those with the deepest pockets will have made it down from Glasgow at such short notice – there is plenty for Warriors to contend with.

Smith, though, in that unflustered, serene way of his sees none of that as being detrimental to his side’s prospects. Whether Glasgow end up winning or losing their first league final since 2019 will come down to what happens out on the pitch, not the events surrounding it.

“We weren’t disrupted at all,” shrugged the head coach after naming an unchanged line-up for the third match in succession. “It was always the plan to be here on Wednesday afternoon. Even the last time we played against the Bulls we came on different flights. There was no change in that. The important thing was we got here on time to do our prep here and have enough time to recover.

“We have anticipated something like this in the weeks before. So, no surprises. We’ve followed a similar routine as when we had when we played here the last time so there are a lot of similarities for the boys. That’s basically the reason for being organised, to allow them to focus on the task in hand and not be distracted by anything. So I’m really happy. The preparation and the travel won’t be excuses this week.”

There is an air of added poignancy for Smith who returns to the scene of that 1998 Currie Cup triumph during his time as a Bulls player looking this time to upset the home crowd, rather than delight them. He hopes his Glasgow players will cherish the experience, regardless of the eventual outcome.

“The Bulls was a magnificent time in my career as a player,” he adds. “I have fond memories and some of my best friends came out of that 1998 group in the period that I was here.

“I remember one time I had a one-on-one in the top right corner with 10 metres to go to the try line and as I tackled [the player] over the touchline the way Loftus reacted to that was always special. It’s good to come back here and experience it again.

“I still feel that Loftus is the best place to play rugby. The ball travels a little further, the wind never blows and the temperature is always the same. The ground is always enthusiastic, too. It’s definitely a proud moment and I’m pleased to share it with the boys who can take it on board for the rest of their careers.”

Warriors, though, are not here just to make up the numbers. Their semi-final victory over Munster demonstrated they are a side that deserve to be respected and viewed as potential champions, although Smith acknowledged they will need to step it up again from that clinical performance in Limerick.

“I don’t think what we did last week would be enough to beat the Bulls here and to make a step up is going to be a big challenge,” he admitted. “I’m South African so I know how their hearts beat and I know how the blood goes through their veins and I know how they desperately want to succeed. So we face another challenge. It’s comparable [to Munster] but we definitely see this as a different challenge and we must step up if we want to be competitive until the end.

“I think we’ve learned a lot from last week’s game. There was 20,000 Irish supporters at Thomond Park and it could have been intimidating. But I think we’ve taken a lot from that in our preparation for this week. We know that we’ll face a pretty hostile crowd over here as well. It’s just double the number that we saw last week. But again it’s just focusing on the task in hand and not getting engulfed by the occasion.”  

It is not just Smith who is enjoying a special homecoming, with Warriors captain Kyle Steyn also back in his native South Africa and with tickets secured for around 35 of his family and friends.

“We’ve got a really clear plan and a process that we’ve put in place over the last two weeks," he revealed. "I think it’s just focusing on that plan and not getting carried away - just making sure that the focus stays on the moment, you deal with that moment and then move to the next one."