It should have been a night to remember for everyone in the Glasgow Warriors party, but let’s just say that the explanation for Ali Price’s memories being open to question may lie within his own account of it.

In many ways the scrum-half had the best and worst of it, as a member of the playing party making the trip to Belfast for the 2015 Pro12 final, without being subjected to the pressure of taking party, the corollary of which was that he was ultimately among the thousands who could do no more than sit, watch, hope and cheer as the match unfolded.As things turned out it was a relatively relaxed experience, Glasgow running out comfortable 31-13 winners over Munster, three tries in the first half hour or so putting them in easy street.

“I was 24th man that day, which was great. I flew out with the team and was around the match-day 23,” he recalls.“I did the warm-up and all the rest of it and then stayed with the team after the game, which was brilliant.”

It is at that point that things maybe get a bit fuzzy.

“Our flight actually didn’t take off that night. We were meant to come home to Glasgow on the night of the final, but the pilot had left the light on in the cockpit, so the battery drained in the plane.We ended up staying another night in Belfast, which I was a part of. It was brilliant, with the trophy in the middle of the team.

That version of events almost has the feel of owing something to Rikki Fulton’s classic ‘Gallowgate gourmet’ sketch of many Hogmanays gone by which featured the moment when ‘the pilot went oot,’ as a leather and goggle clad extra wandered, apparently randomly, across the set. In fairness, though, even among those whose job it was to record the events at the time there is some debate as to whether air traffic control or a battery issue with the plane were responsible for the grounding.

What all seem agreed upon is that there were insufficient rooms at the inn for the squad and it seems reasonable to presume that Price was among those who selflessly volunteered to go without the comfort of a bed and instead spent the night in the hotel bar.

“We were obviously celebrating and having a few beers. It was a pretty good night, but it actually seems like a long time ago now,” he said.

In the interim, Price has established himself as the first choice scrum-half in a squad that will have a chance next Saturday to serve notice that they are finally ready to compete with Europe’s best, that 2015 title win having come during a brief lull in the Champions Cup fortunes of Ireland’s provinces.Since then Leinster and Munster have re-established themselves as true powers within the continental game, while Ulster also reached the knockout stages this season, where they pushed Leinster to the limit in the quarter-finals, in stark contrast to the way they exited the Pro14 play-offs on Friday evening.

The manner of their defeat, conceding seven tries and a half century of points at Scotstoun, drew the admission from their head coach Dan McFarland, formerly Glasgow’s forwards coach, that even had they produced their very best performance he doubted whether his side could have coped with what their hosts threw at them. If the majority in attendance expected Glasgow to win, few thought they would do so as emphatically as they did, including the home team’s players.

“Ulster are a good side and if I’m honest, everyone was a bit nervous about how it was going to go,” Price admitted.“We were playing at home, where we’re obviously expected to do the job, but we knew they were going to be better than they were a month ago when we played them here. They were better in the quarter-final against Connacht, they managed to slow their ball down very effectively. If they’d managed to do that to us, I think it could have been very different. I certainly didn’t see the scoreline being like that.

“The pleasing thing for us is that I think we played better last month against Leinster and Edinburgh when we were more clinical. I still think we left chances out there, where come a tighter game next week we might need to take them.”

Set to be there for more than the beer this time, he pointed out, too, that this first major final in Glasgow is also an opportunity for the city’s rugby community as a whole to show that it is ready to reach a new level.

“I would like to think now that we’ve made the final, supporters of Scottish rugby will come and back us next weekend,” said Price.“We sell-out at Scotstoun every week, basically and people always say there’s such demand for tickets.I would like to think we could triple what we get for our normal home games, plus the influx of other people who fancy going along to the final.I would like to see Celtic Park close to full capacity. That would be pretty special.”