‘Challenging’ for Warriors with less foreign talent – Smith

“One, to help us win. It wasn’t the main ingredient, but it is important to bring young players through.

“You can only put young players out on the pitch if your team is winning and there’s not much pressure on them to make the side perform.”

Smith thought it also helped manage the game time of international players.

“It allows us to give them a weekend during the season, or to not have them play with niggles,” he said. “We can give them some extra recovery time, especially with the full schedule.

“It’s going to be quite challenging next season. Obviously, it is a directive that has got its own merit and it’s got its own explanation around that. So we’ll do the best we can despite losing some of the quality players that we’ve had.

“It would be excellent if we could have kept everybody. It’s more about a different way. For now, that is what it is.”

Warriors’ current squad face a tough test against Leinster in Dublin on Saturday in their URC semi-final as they look to defend the title they won last season.

Despite a 52-0 Champions Cup defeat by the same opponents, followed by a 13-5 loss in the final match of the regular URC season in Dublin, Smith was keen to point out that they plan to peak at this stage of the season, despite being underdogs.

“It’s a semi-final,” he explained. “The mindset and approach and attitude in a final game is obviously the main ingredient.

“We’ve got to be on top of our game. They’ve got a world-class team. They’ve proven it in the Test match arena, they’ve proven it in this competition.

“It’s a class outfit. It’s going to be a tough challenge.

“The only way we’re going to get better and keep on growing and progressing is if we challenge ourselves to be the best version of ourselves.”