“Originally, I thought it [Hastings’ injury] was worse because we have been managing his knee quite a bit – especially the last couple of weeks with the colder weather and the fields firming up a little bit – but currently it just looks like a bone bruise.
“He’s put a good run of weeks together. It was important from his game development aspect to get that continuity because he hasn’t had that for the last three years. I think it was an important ingredient in his growth in that role. But he needed a break and if it wasn’t going to happen this week, it was going to happen next week, so now the two weeks are swapped over.
“Hopefully, it’s not that serious and he can recover. I want to mention that he was not going to start this game. Dan Lancaster has known for more than a couple of weeks that he will be starting this one anyway.”
Asked if the decision to list McDowall ahead of scrum-half replacement Ben Afshar was an indication that he is looking at seven-one split between forwards and backs on the bench, Smith replied with a question of his own: “Why not?”
“It definitely allows us to put the six forwards on earlier if we want. He knows exactly what his role is on the side of the scum. I think he’ll do his scums at No 8 when he’s there. As per usual, we’ve prepped him for everything. He is one of the world’s best hybrids. He can literally play every role. So, yes, it’s always nice to have that kind of cover.”
Warriors assistant coach Nigel Carolan explained this week that the team’s rousing comeback win over star-studded Toulouse just before Christmas had raised belief throughout the squad that they can compete against and beat the best in Europe, but Smith is not quite so gung-ho in his analysis, pointing out that the challenge immediately in front of the team at this moment in time is to engineer victory over a Clermont side who are zero from two and bottom of the pool. Doing so will be a significant – but not decisive – step towards securing a home draw in the knock-out stages of the Champions Cup.
“Yeah, that is definitely the biggest gain we’ll have,” said Smith. “From that perspective, I think I’ll be looking for a bit of continuity and consistency this week in our performances. I think I’d rather make that my main aim from a rugby programme perspective and take the benefits that come with it as the outcome of the work that we have to do.
“Nothing has changed for me. I saw Nigel mentioned something. Obviously, I think it goes without saying, having won the first two games, that there’s more expectation from everybody and from ourselves I suppose,” said Smith.
“That is my biggest task to keep the expectation at bay at the moment and focus on what we can do. For me, it is the same. Obviously, we’re just taking one game at a time.
“For me, it’s one game, one opportunity at a time. Whether it’s Zebre or we play these guys, it shouldn’t change what our progression is like. I’m not putting the horses ahead of the cart at the moment. It’s just one week at a time. The outcome of this game is not going to influence much anyway. But we want to obviously progress and see if we can’t have some advantage going forward.
“But again, we’re just putting more pressure on us. I think our product still needs to improve.”
Smith added that he is keen to keep Huw Jones on at Glasgow beyond the end of his current contract which runs out this summer, but acknowledged that the decision is not really in his hands.
“There’s nobody here that we don’t try and keep through the years. But we’ll see. There’s obviously a lot of talking going on already since November and even before. The conversation is currently up in the boardroom. For me, we’ve indicated that we’d love to keep him,” said Smith.
