THE PRICE IS RIGHT

Rennie expects to see Glasgow’s ‘old Ali’ come on down

GLASGOW head coach Dave Rennie has revealed Ali Price was sluggish and overweight when he returned to the squad after the Six Nations.

But he believes the Scotland scrum-half has had a wake-up call heading into the new season and can recapture his best form.

For a spell the 25-year-old No.9 could do no wrong for club and country.

Now he faces a battle for the starting jersey with both in the coming months.

Rennie said: “After the Six Nations this year Ali came back into training with us overweight, a bit heavy and sluggish.

“Of course his whole game is about speed to the breakdown and his ability to threaten. But he came back and he was sluggish and I was a bit surprised.

“George Horne and Henry Pyrgos, now at Edinburgh, were picked ahead of him for the rest of our season with the Warriors and Ali has learned a lot from that.

“We won’t pick on reputation. He got a slight injury away with Scotland in the summer but he should be back fit for close to the first round of league games in a fortnight and he is looking sharp. Hopefully we will see the old Ali soon.”

Over at Edinburgh, hooker Stuart McInally is ready to hit “new heights” with his club – beginning tomorrow when they play their first pre-season match against Bath at Meggetland.

Given the way the Gunners have improved under head coach Richard Cockerill, there is a real buzz of anticipation among supporters they can do even better.

And McInally said: “It was great to see so many fans at our open training session recently and they, like us as a group, have high expectations heading into the season.

“Richard is certainly not a coach who rests on his laurels and since he came in last summer he has stressed to us how far hard work can get you.

“Pre-season has gone well and we now want to get a couple of friendlies under our belts to build up to the season. Everyone is ready to do their bit to help us on an upward curve as things move forward.”