Glasgow Warriors off on their travels with play-offs in sight and Black Lion fixture arranged

Franco Smith spoke afterwards of being “spoilt here at Scotstoun”, such has been their home record, but the Glasgow head coach is nothing if not logical and declared himself largely satisfied with the outcome. “If you win every game you will not lose,” he noted dryly.

Smith’s side will now embark on their travels, with a trip to Italy to play Zebre on Saturday followed by a two-game tour of South Africa next month to take on the Bulls and Lions. Playing against the Sharks gave them a useful taste of the physical challenge they can expect in Pretoria and Johannesburg but Kyle Steyn, the Glasgow captain, expects it to be a lot tougher overseas.

“It will be totally different,” he said. “The Sharks were a really physical side and when you’re playing over there that physicality is only going to go up a level when the teams are playing in front of their home crowds. We’re working away at that. We know the physicality, resilience and persistence you need out there. We’ll keep chipping away and making improvements.”

Steyn scored his first Glasgow try of the season in Friday’s 21-10 win, with all the home side’s points coming in the first half. The failure to add to their total after the break and, in particular their inability to nick a fourth try, was a source of annoyance among the Warriors squad but Smith called for some perspective.

“Franco said to us in the changing room that we shouldn’t ever get tired of winning,” said Steyn. “He could sense there was a little bit of frustration and he said it really well. It does feel frustrating but it’s another step forward from the Quins game. It’s ever evolving and we’ll keep sharpening the tools as we go on.

“We’ve got four really big games left and the race towards the top is really tight. You’ve seen in the Champions Cup knockout games how difficult it is to win away from home. We can’t look too far ahead but we’re definitely aware that the more games that we can play at Scotstoun the better.”

Glasgow are not back on home turf until May 31 when they face Zebre again, in the final game of the regular season. The play-offs begin a week later and will be played across three weekends in June.

The form of homegrown talents such as Max Williamson and Gregor Hiddleston is another pleasing aspect for Glasgow and Smith said there will be plenty more opportunities for young players in the coming weeks, with the Warriors fielding their A team in the Super Series. There is also a closed doors fixture on Thursday between a combined Glasgow-Edinburgh select and Black Lion, the new Georgian team coached by Richard Cockerill.