Final talk premature as Glasgow face Connacht

Final talk premature as Glasgow face ConnachtImage source, SNSImage caption, Franco Smith has been eager not to look beyond Friday's matchByTom EnglishBBC Scotland's chief sports writerPublished19 minutes agoFranco Smith will have hated parts of the preamble to Friday night at Scotstoun, Glasgow Warriors' United Rugby Championship play-off quarter-final against Connacht, arguably the form team of the competition right now.The pantomime around where the Warriors will play a 'home' final, should they get that far, will not have sat well with the head coach. Smith is not a man to project beyond the battle in front of his face. He's too canny and too respectful for that.If Glasgow win on Friday and then win a semi-final a week later they will get to play the final in their own country. It cannot be at Scotstoun, Celtic Park, Ibrox or Hampden for assorted reasons.For the longest time it looked like it could not be Murrayfield either. Concerts and the need for hard cash to keep the Scottish Rugby show on the road looked like denying Glasgow a shot at playing a denouement in Edinburgh.There's significant disquiet about that. That position is changing now, it seems. Murrayfield looks like it will be available, after all. All a bit slapstick, all a bit of a head wreck.Connacht dispatch Edinburgh to reach URC play-offsPublished15 MayGlasgow Warriors defeat Ulster to finish top of URCPublished15 MayWhile others are criticising Scottish Rugby for the controversy, Smith will be reminding everyone that all of this chat will be grist to Connacht's mill. It's not gone unnoticed in the west of Ireland, that's for sure. Stuart Lancaster's team are not lacking in motivation but all the talk of a Glasgow final is psychological gold.Connacht are the underdogs but they are an unusual type of outsider. They stormed into the final qualifying place for the knockouts with a run of eight wins in their past nine URC games, including one ag...