Dempsey hails Smith’s winning formula

The BKT United Rugby Championship outfit booked a maiden EPCR final – against RC Toulon in Dublin on May 19 – as they triumphed 35-17 at Scarlets last Saturday.

Dempsey was named Player of the Match in Llanelli after a superb performance, but the Scotland international was keen to underline the influence of Smith, who took charge of Glasgow last August.

“Franco is a bit of a dad-joke operator, so every week whoever we beat, he comes in on Monday and we all stand up and give each other a round of applause, and then he says: ‘Right, next job’,” Dempsey explained.

You laugh at it at the start and then it becomes a bit cringy or whatever, but the message is there – that you don’t win anything until you’ve won something. That’s something we’ve all bought into – definitely I’ve bought into it.

“We celebrate the wins now, have a beer in the changing room under the stand, then we move on to the next job on Monday. That’s the mentality.

“I think this year, since day one when Franco came in, there has been something kind of growing. And whether you are an amateur player or a professional player, that is something which hits you.

“Franco has got plaudits for various things, but the biggest thing was building that depth, so that there were opportunities for guys like Matt Fagerson and myself to be managed correctly.

“There are no real excuses. We are just rolling now and picking ourselves up week to week.

Franco is smart around the training loads as well. He knows that going into these big games that we are not going to get heaps fitter at this stage of the season by working really hard. It is too late for that. At the end of the season, you are either fit or you’re not, so he is managing us well.”

Dempsey believes the EPCR Challenge Cup final is a just reward for the players’ commitment this season and that their semi-final victory tasted even sweeter in front of 13,000 fans at the Parc y Scarlets.

“There have been ups and downs, but this is something I think we deserve because of the way everyone has worked for each other,” he added.

“To get that result in a pretty hostile environment – I’ve played here before and it wasn’t anything like that – just adds another layer to the story.”