Ali Price hopes he did enough in 45 minutes in Glasgow’s win in Newport to earn a place in the Scotland team at Twickenham and have the opportunity to repeat the victory of two years ago, but this time with a crowd.
That would certainly make his busy travel itinerary worthwhile, which includes Scotland, Wales, Spain and England in a six-day period.
“I was just told I was allowed to come back and play,” he said, when asked if 45 minutes was always part of the deal in Glasgow’s game against the Dragons. “I just tried to represent myself well and help the team win however long that was, so job done.
“I’m not sure if I’ll be involved next week, I just had to do my job. I enjoyed it, probably quite a good game to watch, quite open, both teams were going for it, kicking for the corner and trying to attack.
“I enjoyed the runaround and next we are off to Spain tomorrow morning to join up with those guys, keep going for the Six Nations and I guess what will be will be with that.”
There were six Scotland squad players in the Glasgow team in Newport and all came through unscathed, hooker Fraser Brown getting two tries and centre Stafford McDowall another in the 42-28 victory.
Such a good win and performance can only help the mood within the Scotland camp, according to Price.
“Confidence levels are good, a lot of boys are playing well and high on confidence and that definitely helps,” he said.
“The first few days of camp are normally just getting back into the swing of things, running through your attack shape and getting defensive principles back in with three, four, five new guys who might be coming in for the first time.
“We are a squad that is made up of Edinburgh, Glasgow and then guys in the Premiership and France, so it is nice just to connect back up and I guess that’s the main thing of the first few days of camp to re-align ourselves.
“Tomorrow we go to Spain and it is game week and that is where it really starts to narrow in.”
That Price was one of those released, in a season when George Horne has often been first choice for Glasgow, has sparked speculation that Lion Price may miss out this time for Scotland. He was still happy to get a start for Glasgow.
“I think on this occasion, where maybe I have not played as much as I have previously, I was looking forward to having another runaround and getting some more minutes under my belt,” he said.
“I enjoyed it today and felt good. I just wanted to show the best of myself and whatever happens next week happens.”
After a draw and victory in their last two visits to Twickenham, the Scotland squad can certainly have some confidence. Price says there is still unfinished business.
“Obviously the last one was behind closed doors so it would be nice to do the same again in front of a full stadium,” he laughed.
“It’s a massive challenge, all these games are some of the biggest challenges in world rugby and to get an away win is huge and that is what we will be going down there trying to get.
“Similar to Glasgow, we have got all the tools to do the right things, it is just about doing that at a high level against pretty decent opposition.”
Glasgow under Franco Smith are certainly showing plenty of talent. Dragons will be the opponents in the last 16 of the Challenge Cup so such a straightforward victory is encouraging.
“Keeping the ball in hand is how we are trying to play and we have got all the elements there to be able to do that,” said Price.
“Today we managed to get some good sequences going and scored some points which is nice.
“We can’t complain with nine unbeaten, I think that’s since the Autumn internationals we have been unbeaten, we are building nicely, staying grounded but at the same time we have done well to keep this run going and will start to get a target on our backs.”
