PRICE IS RIGHT
Scrum-half proves why Townsend wants him wrapped up in cotton wool for Six Nations with derby masterclass
ALI PRICE won’t see much action with Glasgow Warriors for the rest of the season, but at least he can say he’s left them in decent shape.
Price will be named as firstchoice scrum-half when Gregor Townsend announces his Six Nations squad on Wednesday, and the Scotland head coach won’t want him to play again before the opening match against England at Twickenham on February 6 to keep him injury free.
Once he’s in the Scotland bubble, he won’t be available again until late March.
But Price couldn’t have said a better goodbye to his club after his top-class performance alongside rookie fly-half Ross Thompson inspired a crazy win over Edinburgh.
In an incident that is sure to feature in sports-quiz nights everywhere, Edinburgh scrumhalf Nic Groom mistook a train sounding its horn on the line behind Scotstoun for the halftime hooter and kicked the ball out before heading to the tunnel.
He was horrified to discover there were still 30 seconds left and that he had gifted a line-out to Glasgow in a dangerous position. The home side won it and recycled the ball across the pitch before winning a penalty that Thompson put over.
That wasn’t the end of the chaos. In the last play of the game, straight after Jaco van der Walt had missed a conversion to win the game for Edinburgh, there was also a misunderstanding among the Glasgow players.
Despite clinging on to a one-point lead as the clock ticked past 80 minutes, the Warriors refused to kick the ball into touch. They thought the 1872 Cup was being played over two legs this season, rather than the normal three, and mistakenly believed they had to score more points to overturn Edinburgh’s 10-7 victory at BT Murrayfield.
‘We thought we had to win by four points to win the 1872 Cup and that’s why we kept playing,’ said Price.
‘The messages were getting to us to get the ball out and Kelly Brown (Glasgow assistant head coach) was doing his best not to come on with the kicking tee.
‘We had mentioned in the week a couple of times we were playing for the 1872 Cup, so the general consensus was that we needed to win by four. Hence we went for a short kick-off and went for goal when we ended up getting a penalty. We didn’t know it was best of three games.’
Otherwise, Price was on top form here, and it’s understandable why Townsend will insist he puts country before club for now.
There isn’t too much strength in depth in his position either, as second choice George Horne is set to miss the Six Nations with a foot injury. That leaves Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, Scott Steele and Henry Pyrgos — none in the same class as Price — fighting it out for a place on the bench.
Price can’t wait for the Six Nations when he expects to get a run of games. That’s something he hasn’t managed this season, with the coronavirus pandemic leading to league and European call-offs for Glasgow.
‘The disruption doesn’t do much for performance and I played one game in four weeks,’ he said.
‘It does nothing for continuity or game sharpness as there is only so much you can replicate in training.
‘In terms of physically, my personal shape, yeah, I feel great. I’ve looked after myself and I’m in a different place to where I was even at the end of last season.
‘I’ve made the most of lockdown and it’s been very good for me in terms of sorting out my body composition. I feel like my skills have been good on the whole, and I’m looking forward to seeing what happens in the next couple of months.
‘When I hopefully go into the Scotland camp I don’t think there’s any extra pressure as I feel like, whenever you’re in a national squad, there are always guys who are competitive and very good rugby players. Otherwise they wouldn’t be there.
‘I can only be the best version of myself, not get complacent, and that’s how I approach everything, even here at Glasgow.’
The Warriors deserved their narrow win as they made the most of their possession and, in 21-year-old Thompson, they had a young man who hardly put a foot wrong in his first start.
He settled his nerves with a third-minute penalty, before it was cancelled out by one from Van der Walt.
Glasgow’s forwards were making plenty of hard yards and had to work even harder seven minutes from the break when hooker George Turner was yellow-carded for catching Grant Gilchrist in the stomach with his shoulder.
Edinburgh took full advantage of the extra man, with Jamie Farndale going over in the corner for a try converted by Van der Walt. Then Groom committed his gaffe which gifted a line-out and led to Thompson’s penalty.
After the break, Matt Fagerson scored for Glasgow before Van der Walt was yellow-carded for not rolling away after a tackle on Huw Jones. From the rolling maul following a line-out, Turner made up for his yellow card by emerging with the ball after crashing over.
Edinburgh centre Chris Dean pulled a try back, converted by Mark Bennett, before Jones was yellow-carded for killing the ball five minutes from time. Eroni Sau went in at the corner with a minute left for the visitors.
It gave Van der Walt a chance to win the match but his conversion drifted wide.
Richard Cockerill said his team only had themselves to blame for the loss, and that included the mistake from Groom, who has played most of his rugby in his native South Africa.
‘He thought the train’s horn was the half-time horn, which he is used to in the southern hemisphere,’ said Cockerill. ‘It was not one of the favourite moments of my coaching career, I can tell you.
‘It was a bit frustrating because we had managed a good score and were looking to go in further ahead at half-time, but we gave them free territory for no reason and end up being punished.
‘We conceded three points and, in the end, lost by one.’