Glasgow Warriors and Scotland scrum-half Ali Price on whirlwind year
Glasgow and Scotland scrum-half reflects on ‘crazy’ 12 months in which his career has catapulted
I had a bit of luck on the way to get into the positions that I have been in, but I have worked hard and could not have asked for more
ASK Ali Price to sum up his last year and the answer is simple: “It’s been crazy.” It is as good a description as any. There are few players who have ever risen so far so quickly and looked so at home every stage of the journey.
When he made his first start against Wales last month, he even made time to check his hair was right before running out to enjoy the national anthems. He may have been more nervous than he had ever been before, but he was still not so much on edge that he would ignore the important things.
What makes it even more remarkable is that that magic afternoon came only 370 days from the moment the scrumhalf signed his first proper professional contract. It took little more than a year from being a name known only to diehard Glasgow fans to one being cheered to the rafters by 67,000 fans at BT Murrayfield.
“To be honest, it has been a bit of a whirlwind,” he said. “I had a bit of luck on the way to get into the positions that I have been in, but I have worked hard and could not have asked for anything more. I tried to go out and play my game, justify being picked and I have loved every minute of it.”
So he should. At 23, he is reasonably old to have been an overnight sensation – his late start in Scottish terms mainly being down to starting his career in the obscurity of Bedford Blues before heading north to try his luck with the Glasgow development programme.
A few games, mainly off the bench, came his way as he settled in, then a couple of starts culminating in a shortterm pro contract as his 2015 Christmas present.
It took only two months to turn that into a two-year deal signed in February last year but, even then, Price was the only uncapped player among four scrum-halves at Glasgow, competing with, among others, Henry Pyrgos, who captained Scotland during last summer’s tour and was then named as one of the club’s co-captains. A season of warming the bench seemed to be on the cards.
That was still the case when Pyrgos was picked for the November Tests squad, but there was hope for Price when he was invited to train alongside the squad for experience.
“Getting called up in November – I was not even in the initial squad – was a huge shock, not something I had targeted or anything like that. It has been pretty crazy since then,” he said.
“Henry [Pyrgos] picked up an injury, which gave me an opportunity to start a couple of games – get a bit of confidence and a bit of a run in the team. I have picked up from that.”
He has ridden his luck. His November promotion came after Pyrgos had damaged a knee, and his recent starts were because Greig Laidlaw had torn ligaments in his ankle, but the crucial thing is that each time he has grabbed the chance with both hands.
By the time Pyrgos had recovered, it was his turn to be understudying Price in the big games.
For Price, it has been a virtuous circle. The demands of international rugby have improved him as a club player, and that has brought more experience, which has brought more caps – and so on. “Anyone would be the same, you have to justify that you are being picked and put in performances to maintain your place,” he said. “It is not my right just to play these games, I have to go out and prove I deserve it.
“International rugby is a step up; the speed of the game is a lot faster and more intense and the physicalit y is greater. When I play e d against Georgia, just training with the squad meant that when I went back to Glasgow I maintained the speed and everything that I had built up.
“That made the Glasgow games more enjoyable. I found more space and found I was getting to the rucks more quickly and was able to read the game better. Being in the squad, in the national set-up, really helped me. Going back to Glasgow did not feel nearly as daunting.”
The important thing about Price is that he fits into the current Scotland model. He is a runner in his own right with a slick service while his close friendship with Finn Russell (right), his fly-half at club and country, means the t wo have an instinctive understanding. His speed rush can get him into trouble, too. For a few seconds he wondered if his first Six Nations experience, when he replaced Laidlaw early in the game in Paris, was going to be getting a yellow card before he had even touched the ball in open play. He pushed Camille Lopez, who was stopping him taking a quick tap penalty, and admits he was fortunate only to have the penalty reversed. “After that, I settled. I said to myself, ‘I can do this, I am here now, I can relax’,” he said. “I am one of these people that when I go to the next level I never know how I am going to be until I am on the pitch and playing. “Once I have told myself I can cope with it then I am pretty relaxed.” So relaxed, in fact, that as long as the hair is right, the sky seems to be the limit.