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.
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.
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.
“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.
“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.
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.”
— Scottish Rugby (@Scotlandteam) October 31, 2024
Scotland team to play Fiji
Forwards: 1 Pierre Schoeman (Edinburgh Rugby), 2 Ewan Ashman (Edinburgh Rugby), 3 Zander Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors), 4 Grant Gilchrist (Edinburgh Rugby), 5 Scott Cummings (Glasgow Warriors), 6 Matt Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors), 7 Rory Darge (Glasgow Warriors), 8 Jack Dempsey (Glasgow Warriors)
Backs: 9 Ali Price (Edinburgh Rugby), 10 Adam Hastings (Glasgow Warriors), 11 Duhan van der Merwe (Edinburgh Rugby), 12 Sione Tuipulotu (Captain, Glasgow Warriors), 13 Huw Jones (Glasgow Warriors), 14 Darcy Graham (Edinburgh Rugby), 15 Kyle Rowe (Glasgow Warriors)
Replacements: 16 Dylan Richardson (The Sharks), 17 Rory Sutherland (Glasgow Warriors), 18 D'Arcy Rae (Edinburgh Rugby), 19 Max Williamson (Glasgow Warriors), 20 Gregor Brown (Glasgow Warriors), 21 Jamie Dobie (Glasgow Warriors), 22 Tom Jordan (Glasgow Warriors)*, 23 Stafford McDowall (Glasgow Warriors)
* Denotes uncapped player