Q&A: Franco Smith praises Glasgow's 'progression' in Benetton win

The win was marred somewhat by injuries to Adam Hastings, George Horne and captain Kyle Steyn, who scored a try in each half during the 42-10 win. 

Read more:

• Five things we learned as excellent Glasgow Warriors thrash Benetton

Here is every word from the Warriors' head coach as he spoke to the media post-match

Update on George Horne and Adam Hastings injuries?

“They failed the HIA1, so that is just a normal procedure. They can still be available towards the end of next week depending on the outcome of the test that needs to be done from now on. So we'll see.

“They both looked fine to me, but obviously they failed the on-field or the first test that they had to do.”

Overall thoughts on the performance?

“I think we get spoiled in this competition with the quality of the rugby that's being always displayed. We asked for progression this week from last week and we saw that from an attacking perspective.

We backed a good defensive performance from last week up with another good defence performance. We missed about six line-outs inside the 22, which is a work-on for us this week, but it's uncommon. So, it's something that we can fix.

“I thought they did well in defending that. I know Marco Bortolami’s DNA is in the line-out, so the way they stopped it was good. But we also we just missed some of them.

"So again, that is where we are for this part of the season. Most players have played less than 100 minutes. 

“So, this is now just the next step. This is part of the pre-season, as I noted before.

"If you're a champion team and you play too late, and most of your players go on a national tour, you start late with them. You must be patient to blend them in. The technical errors that we did see tonight are fixable and not common.”

What do you make of Sione and Tom Jordan together in midfield?

“Look, they play well together. I was a 10-12 in my whole career, so it doesn't change much. They did well together. It's good to have those type of players you can lean on. I'm excited that Tom's done well there. I thought they linked up well with Adam.

"Adam is the guy that needs to be introduced into this team. It's going to take a bit of time. Some good things from him tonight. It's a pity about the injury because we would have seen some more in the second half, I think, where things got a little bit loose.

“So no, we're excited that everybody's contributed to the game very well tonight.”

A step up again in physicality? 

I think physicality last week was up a notch. It was really the way we defended and the way we kept Ulster out, the amount of tackles. Obviously that training, and I would agree, that training that we got from that game was applied tonight.

Sione Tuipulotu on the charge (Image: SNS) “That is very good. So some of the work that we put into the game in Ulster is tonight reflected. I'm proud of the boys. They applied themselves. They want to make this Warrior Nation proud.

"They want to hit the straps as soon as they can. We're looking forward to their progression now to next week.”

Captain’s innings from Steyn?

“Kyle is a wonderful leader in that sense. We've got a very good relationship. He's just been going about his business in his own way. Silent but accurate. He's got his finger on his pulse across the team.

Kyle Steyn crosses for Glasgow's fifth try - his second of the night (Image: SNS) "To be rewarded tonight, the Man of the Match medal, there were a lot of other games where he should have gotten it but he didn't get it. So to get it tonight was important. He had to come back on. He got caught with what looks like a contact bruise on his shin. We're going to have to examine that and see what's happened. Hopefully it's nothing serious. He did score a try with that leg like it is. Hopefully it's not that serious.”

Did the red card change the game? 

"The red card did make a difference, I suppose, for them. But I still thought we had ascendancy the whole first half. Like last week against Ulster, we had ascendancy in every part of the game. When it was 14-0, I think we kicked it in the corner.

Referee Marius van der Westhuizen sent off Scott Scrafton (not in picture) in the first half (Image: SNS)

"There were moments where we could have taken the game away from them earlier without them being a red card down.

“But then I think we stuck to what we wanted to do and how we wanted to play. But it is a bit of a disruption, even if the opposition has a red card. Because you lose shape in the scrum. We go after it every time when there's not enough control.

“That's understandable. Amongst everything, the late start and all the pre-season errors, the fact that the game lost a bit of shape from their side did not make it a complete performance like we would like.”

Benetton lost their shape in the second half…

“I know what's happened there. They have invested a lot. This is their season. They've said that in Treviso. They've said that in the paper.

"I think they became desperate to still perform despite the fact that they've got a card down. It's classical for this part of the year and the type of game that we've been involved with for them to become desperate and become ill-disciplined.”