“Getting into half-time 25-5 down meant we must be extraordinary within the second a part of the sport. It is somewhat little bit of an uphill battle then,” Smith instructed BBC Scotland after the match.
“They did not permit us to play, I believed their defence was wonderful. [Leinster senior coach] Jacques Nienaber is doing an excellent job. He is a twice World Cup winner with that sort of defence that they’ve used.
“They have been on high of it immediately, they’ve restricted groups the entire season from scoring factors towards them, and no distinction immediately.
“I feel as soon as they smelled blood within the second a part of the sport, it was at all times going to be exhausting to cancel that deficit.”
It was like groundhog day in Dublin. Leinster walloped Glasgow 52-0 within the Champions Cup quarter-final again in April and whereas the deficit on the scoreboard might not have been as huge on this event, every little thing else pointed to 2 sides working on totally different planes.
In an injury-plagued marketing campaign, reaching the final 4 has been a reputable defence of their URC crown. The one remorse is Glasgow didn’t have one final battle in them.
Some made a case earlier than the sport that Leinster might choke below the strain whereas nonetheless struggling to come back to phrases with the Champions Cup semi-final defeat by Northampton that prompted such soul-searching. Glasgow by no means put themselves able to check Leinster’s nerve.
Smith was emotional post-match, little doubt stung by the character of the loss and drained after one other lengthy and demanding season away from his household.
There was a lot hypothesis as as to if the South African needs to fulfil the ultimate 12 months of his contract at Scotstoun. He left quite a lot of breadcrumbs again in February when he left the door open to an strategy from Wales to switch Warren Gatland. That emptiness has but to be completely crammed.
Some have been campaigning for Smith to step up and substitute Gregor Townsend as Scotland coach after one other underwhelming Six Nations. Townsend names his squad for the summer time Exams on Tuesday – he is going nowhere.
Having publicly expressed his frustration with the departure of key gamers this summer time akin to Henco Venter, Tom Jordan and Sebastian Cancelliere amid the SRU’s drive to advertise younger Scottish expertise, it will be comprehensible if Smith now felt he had taken Glasgow so far as he can.
When requested instantly by BBC Scotland whether or not he would nonetheless be at Scotstoun subsequent season, the pinnacle coach provided no ensures.
“I am wanting ahead to mirror somewhat bit,” he stated.
“I feel it is 44 weeks we have been at it, there’s solely 52 weeks within the 12 months, so it is a full 12 months’s work.
“Should you defend the title you must be on high of your sport in all of it, so it will likely be essential for me now to go and mirror somewhat bit, and take a little bit of downtime, and hopefully see what is going on to come back subsequent.”
