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Gregor Townsend explains throw-back choice of Ali Price

By PA
Scotland's scrum-half Ali Price reacts after defeat in the France 2023 Rugby World Cup Pool B match between Ireland and Scotland at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, on the outskirts of Paris on October 7, 2023. (Photo by Anne-Christine POUJOULAT / AFP) (Photo by ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT/AFP via Getty Images)

Gregor Townsend believes Ali Price has earned the right to make his first Scotland start in 13 months against Fiji on Saturday because he is “in the best form” of all the available scrum-half options.

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The 31-year-old Edinburgh back has been given the nod ahead of Glasgow pair George Horne and Jamie Dobie, while Toulon’s Ben White cannot play in this weekend’s match as it falls outside the international window.

Price, a member of the 2021 British and Irish Lions squad, was Scotland’s first-choice scrum-half until the end of 2022, but then lost that status to White while also seeming to slip below Horne in the pecking order.

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England coach Steve Borthwick on the importance of winning close matches

Steve Borthwick on what he learned from the narrow defeats to New Zealand in the summer.

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England coach Steve Borthwick on the importance of winning close matches

Steve Borthwick on what he learned from the narrow defeats to New Zealand in the summer.

After being restricted to just one sub appearance in this year’s Six Nations, Price has been restored to the number nine jersey for the first time since starting against Ireland at the World Cup in October 2023.

“Ali wasn’t in the two nines that we picked a lot during the Six Nations,” explained head coach Townsend. “That was a reflection of George’s form and Ben’s form. We feel this year Ali’s played really well when Edinburgh have gone well, the last two games in particular.

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“George and Jamie are competing really hard with Ben, who will be available for us next week, so we see the four of them as all having their different attributes.

“We’ve gone for Ali because we believe he’s in the best form right now. I think he looked really refreshed after having a summer off. His last performance against Cardiff was excellent, he got man of the match.

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“Ali’s a Lion, he’s played over 50 caps, so he’s a quality player and he’s in form. George and Jamie are quality players too, so we have really good depth at nine and Ali’s got an opportunity this week.”

Darcy Graham is another Edinburgh player selected for his first Scotland start since the Ireland game at the 2023 World Cup after playing regularly at club level this season following a string of injury problems in the past couple of years.

“Darcy’s excited,” said Townsend. “I think that last game he played against Cardiff, he got a number of touches on the ball. It’s probably taken him a few games to grow into that form, which is understandable, but he’s trained really well this week.”

With the exception of Edinburgh back-rower Jamie Ritchie, who has not made the 23, and the likes of White, Blair Kinghorn and Finn Russell, who are not available until next weekend’s match against South Africa, Townsend has selected the most experienced XV available to him for Saturday’s Test against a Fiji side missing several key men.

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The bench includes the uncapped Glasgow stand-off Tom Jordan, but the head coach felt it was important to kick off the autumn series in front of a capacity crowd at Murrayfield with a side made up of established internationals.

“Yes, for a couple of reasons,” he said of his decision not to experiment too much. “One, the Test that we have this week, it’s a real challenge, so we have to be at our best level to start with a win.

“But also, we want the players to get up to speed with Test rugby, with the different calls and different emphasis in our game-plan ahead of the tests and challenges that are coming after this weekend.”

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Flankly 19 days ago

Rotation makes sense. Build depth.

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JW 2 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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