There is no doubt that Franco Smith believes Glasgow Warriors are good enough to become European champions. He just doesn't want to say it out loud. Or for any of their staff or players to do so.
Smith had jokingly berated Sione Tuipulotu after the Scotland captain revealed live on television that he had looked each of his team-mates in the eye and told them he believed Glasgow could win the Champions Cup this season.
Attack coach Nigel Carolan will no doubt be similarly reprimanded following his comments earlier this week that the Warriors should be considered “contenders” to go all the way this season.
“I'll have to talk to Nigel,” Smith said wryly, after learning of his optimistic stance on Glasgow's prospects.
Privately, however, Smith will almost certainly agree with both men. The head coach has carefully built and fostered a winning mentality that has spread throughout the group during his two and a half years in charge of Scotstoun.
His team reached the Challenge Cup final in his first season and then won the United Rugby Championship in his second. Now in its third year, Glasgow is looking for the biggest prize of the lot.
Heach coach Smith has built and fostered a winning mentality in Glasgow.
Glasgow hoping to get Scotstoun field through big freeze for clash with Racing 92
Smith's Warriors team knows they can succeed after lifting last season's URC title
It will take something special to win the Champions Cup. The Warriors only reached the last 16 last season before being beaten by Harlequins, whose head coach Danny Wilson took great pleasure in toppling his former employers.
That tie took place at Stoop, rather than Scotstoun, because the Warriors had won only two of their four group games: losing emphatically at home to Northampton Saints and narrowly and disputedly against Exeter Chiefs.
He took advantage of the pain of that Harlequins setback. The Warriors' run to the URC crown took them through Thomond Park in Munster and the Loftus Highveld to take on the Bulls. They survived both challenges and emerged triumphant in each of them.
These demanding experiences will be of great use to them in the Champions Cup field. After three defeats to English opposition last season, they finally defeated a team from across the border when the Sale Sharks were attacked at Scotstoun in the first match of this season. Harlequins next weekend will offer a chance for revenge, as well as a gateway to a high seeding and a home game in the round of 16.
Winning in Toulon was something the Warriors overcame, but two bonus points for losing, earned late in the contest, meant it wasn't a completely wasted trip. Friday night's home game against a depleted and confidence-depleted Racing 92 team is an opportunity to add five more points to their total.
In truth, none of their Group 4 opponents really belong among the elite of European club rugby these days. The real test of whether Glasgow is prepared to go all the way is just around the corner in the knockout rounds.
Are they ready to defeat the best in French rugby, Toulouse, Bordeaux or La Rochelle? Can they stop the Saracens? Or launch Leinster? Only then will the Warriors truly deserve to be considered among the best the continent has to offer. Smith will generally leave that debate to others for now.
“I think it's more for you to judge,” he said. 'I have always believed (in this team). Two years ago people did not believe that we would play in the EPCR final and then win the competition (URC) in two years' time.
Franco Smith quietly trusts that his team can perform well among the European elite
Sione Tuipuloto is more optimistic and insists that Glasgow can be crowned king of Europe
The Glasgow team has already tasted that winning feeling after the URC triumph
“I think what we do here – how we do things, the way the players accept and react to what we want – shows that we are progressing towards becoming a good team and then a great team. As long as we don't *think “that we are good enough if we don't *believe* that we are good enough. Maybe that's the message I would like to convey.”
While people like Tuipulotu are exuberant by nature and express themselves accordingly, Smith is a much more cautious figure, believing that nothing good can come from expressing expressions of intent.
After all, the Warriors as a club have never made it past the quarter-finals of this tournament and the current group has yet to prove that they can hang with the best on the continent.
Carolan, however, was right when he said that they deserved to at least be seen as contenders for the crown, just as Tuipulotu was also within his rights to express his confidence.
That may irritate Smith when he rolls his eyes for dramatic effect, but deep down, he feels the same way. Just don't expect him to say that much.
“I don't want additional pressure on us,” he added, as an explanation for his more cautious attitude. 'I have learned from experience that the more expectations there are in the team, the more it becomes internal pressure. And there is enough external pressure to deal with.
'What Nigel said and the atmosphere in the group shows that we are positive in our approach to what needs to be done. And I agree that the expectation that exists is definitely that we can do it well.
'But I like to think we should talk about what we can do, rather than what we want. It's about actions. We must act according to what we want in life. We must act on what we want on the field and what we believe in.
'I'm glad that people believe that we can go far in this competition and win it in the end. But, for now, I don't want to add any extra pressure to this group.
'We haven't even played the third round of matches. There is still a long, long way to go to talk about this. There are six games in this competition that will be played at a very high level against the best teams in Europe.
'So it's not our place to talk about it yet (until the end). But we can still practice and play to become a team that can play in that final and win it, yes.”