Sparkling Price is on cloud nine
ANY player who wants to wear the Scotland No 9 jersey has to be prepared to act quickly — and Ali Price is proving that he has tuned into that.
The 23-year-old had sat on the bench throughout the autumn Test matches with Australia and Argentina, watching Scotland skipper Greig Laidlaw leading the troops in his position.
And then he was sprung for his international debut with six minutes left of the Test with Georgia and, with his second touch, he took a tappenalty deep inside the Scotland half and sprinted clear up the left touchline to launch the move that ended with Stuart Hogg’s second try.
That is a decent way to remind people that you exist and, on Friday night at Scotstoun, he still managed to sparkle in an otherwise forgettable performance from Glasgow back on Guinness Pro12 duty against Munster.
Admitting the excitement of his Scotland debut at Kilmarnock, near his mother’s home town of Troon, was still fresh, he recalled: ‘I think I threw one pass and made two tackles, so, yeah, it was my second touch.
‘Whenever I’ve got my hands on the ball and I see that penalty advantage it means I can get away quickly, and obviously it was the 74th minute, so they were going to be tired. The worst-case scenario is they tackle me and we get another ten metres, so I thought I would just hedge my bets.’
Most players at Glasgow these days are consumed by the desire to break their European hoodoo and Price believes that they will emerge from the recent slide to three league defeats with all the internationalists back. A trip to Paris to face Racing 92 in the European Champions Cup is a difficult place to get back on the winning trail.
‘We bring back more internationals next week, which will enhance the competition for places and everyone will be raring to go come Saturday,’ added Price.
‘Our actual performance compared to the last two games was a big improvement. I know we lost, but the effort was there, and, building on that second half against Munster going into Europe, I think if we play like that then we can go to Paris and get a win.’