Rugby World Cup: Ali Price selection explained as Scotland spring surprise for Ireland decider

Gregor Townsend has cited Ali Price’s slick delivery to Finn Russell as a key factor in his decision to recall the scrum-half for the World Cup Pool B decider against Ireland on Saturday.

Ali Price applauds the Scotland fans after the victory over Romania. The scrum-half will start against Ireland. (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)

The head coach sprang a surprise by omitting Ben White from his match-day 23 for the game in Paris which Scotland need to win by an eight-point margin to reach the quarter-finals. White was Townsend’s first-choice No 9 throughout the Six Nations and started the first two games of the World Cup, against South Africa and Tonga. Price came off the bench in the 18-3 defeat by the Springboks then started in the third game against Romania which Scotland won 84-0.

He now gets the chance to help shape Scotland’s destiny in arguably the biggest match of Townsend’s six-year reign. Back-up will be provided by Price’s Glasgow Warriors team-mate George Horne, who has been named as replacement scrum-half.

“We feel Ali is in the best form of the three nines,” said Townsend. “He has played a lot of rugby with Finn, but all our nines know to help our attack they have to be accurate with their passing. You’ve got to get that ball into Finn’s hands quickly and Finn has got to get the ball to other people’s hands quickly for us to be at our most effective and Ali has done that in the past. Ben did that well in the past, now Ali has the opportunity to do that again from the start.”

Price turned 30 this year and Townsend praised his maturity in the way he dealt with losing his place to White this year. He also noted his improved recent performances, including in the narrow defeat by France in the World Cup warm-up match in Saint-Etienne. “He was excellent over in Saint-Etienne, he was very good off the bench against South Africa and we saw what he’d been doing in training during that Romanian game,” said the coach of Price who will win his 66th cap on Saturday.

“For him to be back in that excellent form is a real boost. I have to say it was a difficult decision as Ben started for us in the Six Nations, he’s a really good player, very confident, very aggressive and with a great kicking game. His rise in terms of where he’s come from in the last couple of years has brought the best out of Ali recently as well as George. We see George as someone who has done very well for us off the bench and he deserves that opportunity again to make a difference this weekend.”

Apart from the inclusion of Price at scrum-half, Townsend has picked the same starting side that played South Africa in Marseille last month which means captain Jamie Ritchie is fit to play after recovering from the concussion injury sustained against Tonga. There are more changes on the bench, though, with Ewan Ashman, Rory Sutherland and Luke Crosbie coming in for David Cherry, Jamie Bhatti and Cam Redpath as Townsend opts for a six-two split of forwards and backs. “We feel the game is going to be one which is hugely physical and we know how crucial quick ball is to our success in our attack,” added Townsend. “To help that we felt another back rower would bring that freshness, energy and aggression that will be required for us to keep producing quick ball and defensively slow down the opposition.”

Crosbie’s inclusion ahead of Hamish Watson was the biggest talking point about the bench. “We just felt that Luke's aggression on both sides of the ball, his performance against Romania was outstanding,” said Townsend. “He didn't get mentioned that much after the game but the amount of rucks he hit, the tough carries he had to do in an 80-minute performance showed us that he's ready to make a difference.”

Scotland (v Ireland, Stade de France, Saturday 8pm BST): 15-Blair Kinghorn; 14-Darcy Graham, 13-Huw Jones, 12-Sione Tuipulotu, 11-Duhan van der Merwe; 10-Finn Russell, 9-Ali Price; 1-Pierre Schoeman, 2-George Turner, 3-Zander Fagerson, 4-Richie Gray, 5-Grant Gilchrist, 6-Jamie Ritchie, 7-Rory Darge, 8-Jack Dempsey. Replacements: 16-Ewan Ashman, 17-Rory Sutherland, 18-WP Nel, 19-Scott Cummings, 20-Matt Fagerson, 21-Luke Crosbie, 22-George Horne, 23-Ollie Smith.