The heavy loss came after a 42-8 reverse at the hands of Leinster the week before but Smith admits his starting XVs may have looked different were he not trying to bring on the next generation.
Players such as winger Tommaso Iannone, 21, No.8 Marco Filippucci, 25, and 26-year-old prop Matteo Muccignat all featured against Munster.
"We're trying to develop our players to improve our squad," said Smith.
"If our aim was just to win the championship perhaps we wouldn't be doing this.
"But we are trying to be competitive but also learn from this year's edition to be more competitive in the future.
"We also want to win, we obviously don't play not to, but we have another one or two objectives that are a bit different to a squad like Munster."
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