Franco Smith relishing Glasgow’s Champions Cup challenge

Glasgow Warriors head coach Franco Smith is welcoming the chance for his side to be “measured against the best” when they launch their Champions Cup campaign at home to Sale Sharks on Saturday.

Smith has named a strong side for the match at Scotstoun, welcoming back captain Sione Tuipulotu, in addition to the likes of Huw Jones, Zander Fagerson and Rory Darge.

Sale and URC champions Glasgow are in Pool 4 of the competition with Harlequins, Racing 92, Stormers and Toulon.

“It’s a great competition to be part of and it comes at the right time of the year,” Smith told BBC Scotland.

“It’s also exciting to play against players from the Premiership and French competition to make sure we keep on learning, get better and we want to be measured against the best.”

Sale sit sixth in the English Premiership and have named England flanker Tom Curry in their starting line-up, as well as Scotland internationals Gus Warr and Arron Reed.

“Every time you play a team you’re not used to playing that often in your environment or competition, it makes it a different challenge,” Smith added.

“They’ve got a huge pack of forwards, they’ve got good line speed on the defence, a good kicking game and are a bunch of physical players both sides of the ball, so it’s going to be a big challenge.”

Glasgow take a break from the URC, in which they are second to Leinster after five wins from seven outings, and Smith believes it is crucial for his team to improve beyond their league triumph last season.

“It’s important for us to keep setting the standards and keep improving on what we’ve done before, from a statistical perspective but also from a mentality and physical approach,” the South African said.

“To be competitive in this sport now, you need to be on it every week, stick to our process and concentrate on what we can do well, be the best we can be and there’s no better place to measure it than this competition.”