Price alert for Glasgow over cup clash

Glasgow’s victory in atrocious conditions on Saturday may have taken them one step closer to the Champions Cup knockout stages, but it has also provided a worrying template for teams hoping to beat them, says Warriors scrum-half Ali Price.

Lyon dominated possession for long periods with forward drives as they reverted to nine-man rugby, and Glasgow’s apparent susceptibility to the tactic will be a worry for coach Dave Rennie, says Price.

“In the first half I thought Lyon were outstanding,” said the scrumhalf. “If you were Edinburgh watching what Lyon did in trucking it up through the forwards, that’s something we’ll have to work on.”

While Price talked about “other teams”, he was clearly thinking of Edinburgh, who Glasgow play on Saturday in the first half of the 1872 Cup. Richard Cockerill’s side play exactly the same sort of aggressive forward-based game that gave Lyon traction, with the Edinburgh pack coming around the corner and overwhelming opposition packs.

Edinburgh won the 1872 Cup last year and, as ever with derbies, there is a raft of sub-plots, as the two matches will have a bearing on the Six Nations squad chosen by Scotland coach Gregor Townsend.

They are also big games for Price, who is locked in a battle with teammate George Horne for the Warriors scrum-half berth, and to be Greig Laidlaw’s understudy with Scotland.

Glasgow led 18-3 at the break thanks to two tries from winger Niko Matawalu sandwiching a pair of penalties from Adam Hastings.

Pressure from Lyon produced a penalty from Jean-marc Doussain, and they pulled back a try from Pierre-louis Barassi. A penalty from Hastings, who was later subject to an arm to the head from lock Etienne Oosthuizen who was shown the red card, saw Glasgow home. Their win means they now have to collect another four or five points from their remaining games – at home to Cardiff and then away to Saracens – if they are to qualify for the knockout stages.