Tinkerman Smith made a mess of his selection

IN the end, the kit matched the performance. Glasgow Warriors wore a shade of ice blue on a night when they simply froze in Dublin. On what could have been the club’s finest hour as they chased a first-ever European trophy, this turned into an absolute nightmare for Franco Smith’s men. From the moment that Toulon scrum-half Baptiste Serin darted through to score a brilliant solo try after just five minutes, it felt like the writing might well be on the wall. The French side scored two more by the time we had played 25 minutes. The game was over. Glasgow were passengers watching the whole thing pass them by. Over the course of the season, Smith has proven himself to be the man with the Midas touch when it comes to team selection. He has rotated his squad freely on a weekly basis and continued to get results. But, when it mattered most, Glasgow’s Tinkerman got it badly wrong. It’s easy to be smart in hindsight, of course. But, even pre-match, plenty of eyebrows were raised when Smith announced his team for this Challenge Cup Final. Why were Richie Gray and Rory Darge on the bench? Why was George Turner, Scotland’s firstchoice hooker who started every game in this year’s Six Nations, not even in the squad at all? Glasgow’s lineout was nothing short of shambolic. Fraser Brown had a shocker, with two overthrows leading directly to the concession of two tries in the first half. Gray is one of the best lineout forwards in Europe and has had an outstanding season. Why did Smith not start with his strongest team? Darge could well start ahead of Hamish Watson as Scotland’s openside in the World Cup. This was not a night to bench one of your biggest talents. Particularly in the first half, Glasgow just couldn’t stem the tide. You wonder what difference the tigerish presence of Darge might have made. By the time Smith sent for the cavalry in the shape of five replacements shortly after half-time, Glasgow were chasing a lost cause. Domingo Miotti was hooked. His impact on the game was minimal at fly-half, demonstrated by the fact he was replaced by a centre in Stafford McDowall. That was a desperate roll of the dice from Smith. But, although much of the pre-match focus was on who he would select at 10, it was elsewhere in the team that his decisions must be questioned. Glasgow were passive and it looked at times as though they had forgotten how to actually play rugby, such was their hesitancy in attack and their abundance of handling errors. It was just a spectacular non-performance. All of Glasgow’s key weapons misfired. The stage was set for them to write a famous chapter for Scottish rugby and they choked. The most galling aspect for Warriors fans will be the fact that Toulon didn’t even have to play overly well on the night. They lost Dan Biggar to a failed HIA after just five minutes, but it didn’t matter. Glasgow were never able to apply any pressure or ask any serious questions of their French opponents. Toulon came into this on the back of three successive defeats in the Top14. They were low on confidence, but they feasted on Glasgow’s errors. This was a night that will sting Glasgow. It’s a horribly sour note on which to end their season. For Smith, the sense of regret must extend back to the team-sheet.