PRICE IS RIGHT FOR WORLD CUP ROLE, SAYS BLAIR

SCOTLAND assistant Mike Blair has backed Ali Price to play his way back into World Cup contention. The Glasgow Warriors scrum-half had drifted down the pecking order for club and country after a poor Six Nations. From first choice for Scotland before the tournament, he arrived on Scotland’s North American tour as third choice No 9 behind Sam Hidalgo-Clyde and George Horne. But Blair, capped 70 times at scrum-half for his country, saw enough from his 30 minutes in the win over Canada to suggest that the exciting, confident Price was back in town. ‘We didn’t expect anything less from Ali coming on and performing like that,’ said Blair. ‘When the opposition gets tired, he adds a little bit of zip. ‘From his perspective, what happened last season gave him a bit of a kick and he will be a much better player for it. His performance against Canada was not a surprise.’ Blair can see a time when Price renews his international partnership with Finn Russell, which created such a stir against New Zealand and Australia last November. The pair took the game to the All Blacks in a narrow 22-17 defeat at Murrayfield. They were even better the following week in the 53-24 mauling of Australia. Price got the last of the eight tries, with Russell putting over five conversions and a penalty. ‘Ali is a top-class player and you have to remember Finn and Ali had a couple of cracking games this season,’ said Blair. ‘You look back at the Australia and New Zealand games for Scotland for example. There was talk of them being a world-class combination. That does not change overnight. They are two quality operators. We have other guys pushing their way through and we are looking at other combinations. ‘With the World Cup coming up, other guys will be given a chance to show what they can do. The quicker the guys gel, the better it will be for their opportunities for the tournament but Ali is in the mix. The competition is huge.’