The Scottish region held on for a 31-21 victory over the Johannesburg-based outfit last Saturday, crossing for four tries, but spent long spells under pressure and conceded three scores.

Glasgow travel to Scarlets in the last four on April 29 – their first ever EPCR semi-final – and Smith is hoping for a more clinical and composed display at the Parc y Scarlets.

“It was an interesting performance in the sense that we didn't have the ball much,” he commented.

“We looked nervous in attack, which is uncommon, but I can understand why - there’s a lot of passion and the guys don’t want to disappoint. There was a fantastic effort in defence.

“The errors that we made were uncommon, we missed lineouts, we dropped the ball after one phase, we were turned over - we were just inaccurate attack-wise.

“Unfortunately, that’s where you see if the players are managing the pressure. They were good at playing without the ball tonight, which shows their commitment.

“That was important. I can’t blame the effort, I can’t blame them for making mistakes. I can say that we haven’t been in this situation where we’re playing for a semi-final. The club’s first home quarter-final – they’re excited.

"So, there’s a lot of expectation around the team from players who have been playing well the whole season. That is the lesson that we’ll take from that, and we’ll manage the emotion better this week.”

Smith went on to hail Glasgow’s historic campaign but noted that they will have to turn their attention back to domestic rugby until the huge trip to Llaneli in just under three weeks’ time.

“It’s fantastic for the club and I’m pleased to be a part of it,” he added. “[Scarlets] are playing well at the moment. Every game is important now, so we will take things one game at a time.”

Glasgow Warriors head coach Franco Smith was delighted with his side’s defensive efforts in their EPCR Challenge Cup quarter-final win over Emirates Lions but admitted ‘nerves’ hampered their attacking play.