Smith had job talks with England, Wales, Leicester and the Bulls before committing future to Glasgow... and is open to Scotland post down the line

Franco Smith has revealed he held talks with the RFU about a role within the England set-up before committing his future to Glasgow.

The South African had been many people’s preferred candidate to succeed Gregor Townsend as Scotland head coach next year before Scottish Rugby extinguished that prospect this week by handing Townsend an extension until the 2027 World Cup.

Smith has also signed a new deal to remain as Warriors head coach until 2028 but has now revealed he held discussions with officials from the RFU, Wales, Leicester Tigers and the Bulls in his homeland before committing his medium-term future to Glasgow.

Smith was coy on the details of the prospective England role but made clear it was not about succeeding Steve Borthwick as head coach but rather a job behind the scenes following an approach from Conor O’Shea, the RFU’s performance director who Smith succeeded as Italy head coach in 2019.

Smith was insistent that he has not been proactively seeking a change of employment but was instead approached by each organisation with a view to coming on board.

The 53-year-old does not appear to have been formally offered a role with any of them, with Steve Tandy leaving Townsend’s coaching ticket to become Wales head coach, Geoff Parling taking over at Leicester and Johan Ackerman succeeding Jake White at the Bulls.

Smith, though, insisted it was always his preference to at least see out his old contract at Scotstoun that had been due to run until the end of this season and that he was now fully committed to Warriors — who begin their pre-season campaign away to Bath this weekend — for the next three years.

He said: ‘I was never not going to finish my contract (at Warriors) before 2026 and was already being approached by them (Scottish Rugby) to stay longer.

‘I wanted to give it some decent thought and I’ve taken a lot of things into account. It was insinuated that I applied for other work but I was always approached, I’ve never applied.

‘I didn’t want to leave Scotland at all and the Warriors specifically. But, obviously, the approaches came and it made one think what to say.

‘You know about Leicester, you know about Wales. I also had a brief chat with England and then obviously the Bulls. There were conversations and that was more or less it.

‘It had nothing to do with the head coach role there (at England). I obviously know Conor well. I took over from him (at Italy). We have conversations with these people. They contact you and then you chat with them.

‘It comes down to some conversations with the board and with CEOs and performance directors. It comes to conversations and interest.

‘Again, the biggest thing for me about this is I didn’t go look for something. First of all, I was under contract. I think it was always going to be a question of whether the Scottish Rugby Union wanted to make a decision on that. Second, we didn’t (go looking for something), it was just things that happened.

‘The reasons I would have left would not be the right reasons. The reasons to stay were more important. To go and start over at another club, the Bulls, for example, I think is challenging.

‘I’ve got so much belief in the squad here and so much belief in the players and their trust in me means a lot. That outweighed anything else that at this stage came my way.’

When his name had first cropped up earlier this year as a potential successor to Warren Gatland as Wales head coach, Smith had admitted that a return to the international arena still held significant appeal — something that evidently remains the case.

He insisted that the fact he would still be contracted to Scottish Rugby when Townsend’s new deal runs out in 2027 was not a factor in him extending his stay but revealed he would be open to any approach down the line.

He added: ‘I think any club would want somebody with aspiration. Sometimes it can be misinterpreted that that (international rugby) is the only thing left for me to do. But, yes, I would love to have another go. I think it stays any coach’s dream.

‘I’ve done it before and I would love to have another go at it. Of course, it mustn’t be taken out of context here. The reason I’m staying here has nothing to do with that (Scotland job) only. It’s not the reason I’m staying here.

‘That can be an outcome of the Scottish Rugby administration if they decide to use me. Obviously, I just want to be the best version of myself but also get this team and use all the challenges and everything else to gain more experience.

‘To make sure that we can split international rugby programmes or do a proper international programme, may that be coaching the first group or whatever the challenge is. Yes, with Scotland, I know the players well. But that is not the main objective.

‘I’m here to learn and to get better. Scotland is also an international team. If we talk about the international teams (being interested in him), they are also an international team.’