“Going in the interval of 25 to 5 Down meant that we would have to be extraordinary in the second part of the game. It’s a bit of a difficult battle,” Smith told BBC Scotland after the match.
“They didn’t allow us to play, I thought their defense was excellent. [Leinster senior coach] Jacques Nienaber is doing a great job. He is a World Cup winner twice with this kind of defense they used.
“They were at the top today, they limited the teams all season, from scoring points against them and no difference today.
“I think once they smelled blood in the second part of the game, it would always be hard to cancel this deficit.”
It was like Marmota’s Day in Dublin. Leinster Walloped Glasgow 52-0 in the quarterfinals of the Champions Cup in April, and although the score deficit may not have been so wide on this occasion, everything else pointed out to two sides that operating on different planes.
In an injury campaign, reaching the last four was a credible defense of its URC crown. The only regret is that Glasgow did not have one last fight in them.
Some made a case before the game that Leinster could stifle under pressure while still fighting to accept the semifinal defeat of the Northampton Champions Cup that led to this search for souls. Glasgow never put himself in a position of testing Leinster’s nerves.
Smith was emotional after the match, no doubt stung by the nature of the loss and drained after another long and demanding season away from his family.
There was a lot of speculation about if the southern -African wants to fulfill the last year of its contract in Scotstoun. He left more than a few bread crumbs in February, when he left the door open for a Wales approach to replace Warren Gatland. This vacancy has not yet been filled permanently.
Some were campaigning for Smith to intensify and replace Gregor Townsend as coach of Scotland after six other nations. Townsend names his team for summer tests on Tuesday – he’s not going anywhere.
Having publicly expressed his frustration with the departure of the main players this summer, such as Henco Venter, Tom Jordan and Sebastian Cancelliere amid SRU’s desire to promote young Scottish talent, it would be understandable that Smith now felt that he had taken Glasgow as far as possible.
When asked directly by BBC Scotland if he would still be in Scotstoun next season, the coach did not offer guarantees.
“I’m looking forward to reflecting a little,” he said.
“I think it’s 44 weeks when we’re in it, just 52 weeks ago a year, so it’s a whole job.
“If you defend the title, you must be at the top of your game in all this, so it will be important for me now to go and reflect a little and have a little time of inactivity and, hopefully, see what will next.”
