Franco Smith for Scotland, Ally McCoist’s message and doing the Glasgow Warriors double

Duncan Weir believes Franco Smith is a Scotland head coach of the future but the stand-off hopes he sticks around with Glasgow Warriors for a few years yet.

Smith’s status as an honorary Glaswegian was cemented in Pretoria on Saturday evening when he guided the Warriors to a stunning win over the Bulls in the United Rugby Championship final at Loftus Versfeld. It was an epic achievement, overcoming one of South African greatest teams on their own patch in front of a partisan 50,000 sell-out crowd.

For Weir, it was especially poignant as he added the URC triumph to the Guinness Pro12 title he had helped Glasgow win in 2015. He is the only Warriors player to be in the match-day squad for both finals and arrived back at Glasgow airport on Monday with the URC medal hanging around his neck.

A jubilant Duncan Weir lands back at Glasgow Airport with his United Rugby Championship winners' medal after Glasgow Warriors' victory over the Vodacom Bulls in the final in South Africa. (Photo by Ewan Bootman / SNS Group)

The success of nine years ago came with Gregor Townsend at the helm and he became national coach two years later. Weir thinks Smith could follow a similar path further down the line. “Yeah, I do,” said the former Scotland fly-half. “I think with Franco, his success at Glasgow, you need to get used to the way he trains and then you can see how it reflects on the pitch.

“In a short window, going into an international, I’m sure he’d be able to do it. He’s a very smart, intelligent coach and he thinks of different ways to play the game. You’ve seen how successful it’s been at Glasgow over the last couple of seasons and hopefully he stays at Glasgow for a few more years and we can get some more days like this.”

Smith, who is under contract until 2026, has international coaching experience from a stint in charge of Italy between 2019 and 2021 but his immediate future is with Glasgow and attempting to build on this season’s remarkable success. Weir is hoping that what they’ve achieved permeates beyond rugby. It certainly deserves to and has already been recognised by one high-profile figure from the football world, with Ally McCoist getting in touch.

“He gave us a little message and I was telling the boys when we were having a beer,” explained Weir. “He was my hero growing up as a Rangers fan in Glasgow and it’s special when an achievement goes outside the rugby circle. They were some nice words and it feels good.”

Weir now wants the Warriors to build on this success and perhaps attract a few more football supporters to Scotstoun.

“Hopefully. We’ve won it twice now and we’ve got the foundations at the club to really push forward and go and achieve more, I believe. If we can get bigger attendances along to Glasgow rugby in general and with the vibe around the Warriors it’s easier to do that with a successful team, and hopefully the win on Saturday boosts that.

“I know the club rugby scene is good at Glasgow at the moment and hopefully the west of Scotland can get behind us and we just keep growing from where we are already reaching at the moment.”

Unlike the 2015 final, Weir didn’t get off the bench on Saturday but that didn’t detract from what was a real squad effort throughout the season. A late yellow card for starting 10 Tom Jordan quashed Weir’s hopes of getting on and he, Oli Kebble and Euan Ferrie were all unused replacements who had to stand nervously on the touchline waiting for the final whistle before erupting with joy.

“The three of us stripped and ready to go on but the ball didn’t seem to go out,” Weir said. “Then they did the [TMO] review and Tom got a yellow card and that was my hopes done, unless they were going to rejig the pack!

“Obviously, the icing on the cake is getting on but I understand how much graft has gone into this season to get us to where we are so there was no sadness at the full-time whistle as you could probably tell from the social media posts.”

Speaking a couple of months ago, Weir said he sensed similarities with the current squad and the class of 2015. His words proved prophetic and he had time to savour the significance of playing his part in both successes on the long flight home from Johannesburg.

“It’s pretty special. I was reflecting on it on the plane and the way the team did it this time around was a little bit more special given the route that we’ve taken and with the South African teams coming into the league, making it stronger.

“I’m immensely proud and I can’t wait to get home, have a shower, see the kids and water it down with a couple more beers!

“I think it was around February-March time that I said I could feel that same squad energy, the same vibe around the place [as 2015].

“It was the manner in which we did it - going away to Thomond [for the semi-final against Munster] and then having 50,000 people against you [at Loftus] in a pretty hostile environment at altitude, with the short turnaround with the travel.

“All the little bits of the jigsaw were a funny shape and it looked as if they might struggle to fit into the perfect picture but we managed to squeeze it together.

“I thought the boys were outstanding. The physicality of that forward pack… and I thought the backs were outstanding as well. Josh McKay at the back, Sione Tuipulotu, all of them had great games. George Horne’s game management at nine throughout the whole play-offs has been outstanding as well, and I’m just so happy that after all that effort we’ve come away at the right side of it.”

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