The 3 Scottish Lions now fighting to prove their worth

Three men who have been trusted lieutenants by Gregor Townsend now face a battle to prove their worth to the Scotland coach ahead of the Rugby World Cup.

Indeed, such was their form that two years ago Rory Sutherland, Ali Price and Chris Harris were touring with the British and Irish Lions in South Africa.

But they have fallen down the pecking order since and did not make a single start between them in this year’s Six Nations.

In fact, they managed a combined 98 minutes from the 400 available throughout the championship, with Sutherland’s only involvement a cameo from the bench against Italy in round five.

Harris’ involvement was limited to appearances of four minutes against England, eight minutes against Wales and just a single minute versus France.

Despite missing out on selection for the first two rounds altogether, Price saw the most action of the trio as he came on for 23 minutes against the French, 22 minutes versus Ireland and joined Sutherland for the final quarter when the Azzuri were dispatched.

Now though, the trio will begin their quest to force themselves back into Townsend’s first-choice XV after each earning a starting place against Italy this weekend.

From the 2019 World Cup to the start of last season, Harris had been the man in possession of the number 13 jersey. While his attacking game lacks the sparkle of Huw Jones and Mark Bennett, his emergence as an outstanding defender pushed the Gloucester man ahead of his rivals.

Harris had his best year in 2021 and played his part in historic wins at Twickenham and in Paris, where the 32-year-old delivered arugably his best display for Scotland.

All that earned him a place on the Lions tour, and his form on the tour saw him start the second Test against the Springboks.

He was – and still is – Scotland’s defensive leader and his form has remained good for club and country, but the Carlisle man lost his place at the turn of the year.

Townsend threw caution to the wind and injected Scotland’s midfield with the more attacking Jones in partnership with his Glasgow mate Sione Tuipulotu. It had the desired effect with Jones in sparkling form throughout the championship, scoring four tries.

Tuipulotu, an all-court centre equally comfortable carrying over the gainline or releasing his colleagues in the wide channels, was a revelation in the 12 jersey.

That partnership has left Harris with work to do. He gets an opportunity this weekend alongside Stafford McDowall – handed his Test debut after a fine season for Glasgow – in a muscular Scotland midfield.

Meanwhile, after an up-and-down start to his international career, Ali Price seemed to have cracked it when he started two Tests for the Lions in South Africa, but his form hasn’t been the same since.

In 2023, he’s found himself unseated as Scotland’s scrum-half by Ben White.

Price’s Glasgow colleague George Horne has also rediscovered his best under Franco Smith at Scotstoun, and having added reliable goalkicking to his game, maybe a better option off the bench. With White in pole position, that may leave Price out in the cold.

Jamie Dobie, the talented youngster also at Glasgow who was once compared to ex-Scotland captain Gary Armstrong by former Warriors coach Kenny Murray, is knocking on the door.

It’s been a good season for the 22-year-old, who was given more opportunities by Smith at club level. He also proved himself able to fill in on the wing for Glasgow last season. Versatility is always key when selecting World Cup squads – that could aid his case in forcing himself into Townsend’s final group.

Price is the man given first crack from the off against the Italians, with Dobie waiting in the wings. It might come down to a shootout between the pair for a spot on the plane to France. Experience is certainly in favour of the 2021 Lion, but he’ll hope he can discover the type of form that caught the eye of Warren Gatland.

The third of Scotland’s Lions who needs a big campaign is Rory Sutherland.

The loosehead admitted to RugbyPass he felt ‘let down’ when Worcester Warriors collapsed last September, just a year after moving to Sixways from Edinburgh.

He managed to pick up a short-term deal with Ulster, but wasn’t able to string regular games together and is currently without a club.

The Hawick man has undoubted talents – as proved by his performances in 2020 on his return to the national set-up following a horrific groin injury that confined the giant loosehead to a wheelchair for a time.

At that stage, it looked like he could be a mainstay of the Scotland pack for a long time, but the instability at club level couldn’t have come at a worse time with hulking South African Pierre Schoeman having qualified for Scotland on residency grounds.

The 29-year-old will hope to put a turbulent 12 months behind him when he takes to the field at Murrayfield. He’s likely to make the final cut with only three looseheads in Townsend’s training squad, but will want to play a central role in France.

The Scotland coach has urged all of his players – particularly those on the fringes – to use their opportunities, which may be scarce, to prove themselves.

He said: “The players know that in each positional group there’s probably one person who might not go to the World Cup.

“Not everyone is going to get an opportunity to play in these games, but those who have that opportunity can put their best foot forward to make selection more difficult than it is.

“The games are part of the selection process, what they’re doing in training is another, especially now we have got to more competitive, live rugby, a lot of guys are putting their hand up.”

Townsend plans to name his 33-man squad early – perhaps even after next week’s game against France – so this may be the only opportunity some of his players get to put their hand up for selection.

Townsend said it will be tight on up to five spots in his squad.

“We’ve already had initial chats with coaches and they’re dreading the moment when we have to say it’s you who’s made it but you’ve just missed out,” he said.