WHEN Glasgow Warriors beat Racing 92 in Paris at the weekend, it completed an incredible year for scrum-half Ali Price. Back in January at the same ground, Price had just been thankful to be taking part. On Saturday, the 23-year-old showed he is one of the fastest-improving players in the country.

The 23-14 Champions Cup win was a team effort, of course, but Price’s contribution was . . . well, priceless. He combined well with Finn Russell to keep up the tempo in attack, and his try in the second half came at a crucial time in the game.

Warriors co-captain Henry Pyrgos replaced Price late in the game to make his return for injury, so the question now is who Gregor Townsend will pick in the No 9 jersey for the home game against Racing on Friday. Not that Price is worried about that:

He insists that he welcomes both the competition and the help that his more experienced team-mate has given him.

“Henry has been really good in terms of the leadership side of things,” Price said after a result that keeps the Warriors a point behind Munster - who have a game in hand - at the top of Pool One. “He enjoys a co-captain’s role and he’s a really good game manager, and that’s something I can work on.

“It’s not every situation that requires a guy to take a quick tap or to play with speed. Sometimes we need to slow it down, get our structures in place. Henry is a really good boss of controlling the team.

“Competition for places is good. If I’m pushing him for a place and he’s pushing me, then that can only be good.”

Price made his Scotland debut off the bench against Georgia last month after being an unused substitute against Australia and Argentina, but he insisted that fortnight spent on the sidelines did not make him feel short of match sharpness going into the Racing game. If anything, he felt a little livelier because of that rest.

“I was still doing all the training,” he said of his time in the Scotland camp. “I didn’t feel rusty - if anything I felt quite fresh coming back to Glasgow after a month.”

That freshness also seemed to be felt by the other Warriors internationals who were returning to the team. In the past, Glasgow have taken their time to get back up to speed once they have restored their first-choice players to the line-up - and the fact they had lost their previous three league games made it reasonable to fear that they would not be able to hit the ground running against Racing. But they did, and the victory has provided a massive boost to their self-belief, according to the scrum-half.

“We’re all chuffed to bits,” he added. “We knew we could win. A lot of people were saying we’d lost our mojo, but we never lost confidence in our camp.

“I’m full of confidence just now, and loving getting out on the field and doing my thing. I’ve been helped by the boys around me, but I go out full of confidence.

“This has set up a huge game at Scotstoun. It’ll be a sell-out, and we can’t wait to get out there. Friday night under the lights - it’ll be a brilliant occasion.”