Highly rated South African coach addresses Wales links after heavy speculation in the wake of Warren Gatland’s departure
Glasgow Warriors head coach Franco Smith and former Wales boss Warren Gatland.
Glasgow Warriors boss Franco Smith is remaining coy on his coaching future after he was mentioned as one of the leading candidates to replace Warren Gatland as Wales’ head coach.
On Tuesday, Gatland stepped down from his position “by mutual agreement” with the Welsh Rugby Union and Cardiff boss Matt Sherratt has been appointed as his replacement on an interim basis for the rest of this year’s Six Nations.
Gatland was relieved of his duties after Wales started their Six Nations campaign with a 43-0 loss against France in Paris before suffering a 22-15 defeat to Italy in Rome.
According to a WalesOnline report, Smith and Ireland interim head coach Simon Easterby have already been tapped up to take over the Wales role on a permanent basis.
Highly rated after Glasgow’s URC success
South African Smith is highly rated after helping the Warriors win the 2023/24 United Rugby Championship (URC) and they have made a good start to their 2024/25 campaign in that competition as they are currently second in the standings behind Leinster.
What also counts in his favour is the fact that he has coaching experience at international level after serving as Italy’s head coach from 2019 to 2021, while he also served as the Azzurri’s head of high performance in 2021 and 2022.
Although he did not rule out the possibility of taking over the Wales role, Smith stressed that he is fully focused on preparing Glasgow for their URC clash with the Dragons at Rodney Parade on Sunday.
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“This is a difficult one to answer,” he told the Scotsman when asked about him being linked to the Wales job. “Obviously, my focus is absolutely here with the squad for now. I’ve got no real comment to make.
“It’s a compliment to be mentioned in all these conversations and I’m appreciative of that. For now, I’m just focusing on what’s going to happen next year.
‘I’m not going to be distracted’
“My contract is until the end of 2026, so although there are conversations, and I’m really privileged and honoured to be a part of it, but for now, I’m not going to be distracted from what needs to be done next year.”
Earlier this week, Smith spoke to new Scottish Rugby chief executive Alex Williamson but he revealed that it was a pre-planned meeting which was not related to the speculation about the Wales position.
“I did see Alex Williamson yesterday, but for a general visit,” said Smith. “It was the first time I met him, he’s been in the building, [so I] got to know him a little bit.
“We daily speak around everybody’s future here, seeing that it’s this time of year where contract periods and extensions need to be done, [and] still the last couple of nails need to be hit in the coffin regarding the academy side of things.
“We’re obviously waiting for David Nucifora to come through and discuss this, so there’s a lot of talk, but everybody’s name has come up in all these conversations.”
