Ali Price says Scotland players must show more desire for World Cup
Last updated on .From the section Scottish Rugby
Scotland's players must question how much they want to go to the World Cup after the "big wake-up call" of defeat by France, says scrum-half Ali Price.
Several players damaged their hopes of making Gregor Townsend's final squad of 31 as the Scots produced a dire performance to go down 32-3 in Nice.
The sides meet at Murrayfield on Saturday, and Price wants more desire.
"You have to realise who you are representing and ask how much do you want this," said Price.
"How much do you want to represent your country at a World Cup? Not many people get to do it and I feel like when your backs are against the wall a bit it's hard to remember that. You need to scrap and fight for everything.
"Defence is a mindset more than anything, you need to want to hit someone, want to put your body in front of someone. We just lacked a bit."
After falling 7-0 behind with just two minutes on the clock, the Scots never looked capable of finding a way back into the game.
Price admits the team have been guilty of rolling over in games when the going gets tough, such as the 27-10 Six Nations defeat by the same opposition in Paris back in February.
But he believes they can recover to build some confidence before the World Cup opener against Ireland on 22 September.
"We've come back from games like this before and we're at home next week in front of our own fans," said the Glasgow Warrior.
"We get another shot at France and then we roll into two Georgia games and try and gather some momentum.
"It's a wake-up call that we're not just going to roll into this World Cup and get us far as we want. We've got to want it and other teams have been working just as hard as us. There's lots to look at."
'It's a psychological barrier' - analysis
Scotland hooker Fraser Brown on Sportsound
We've now played in big internationals away from home where we've performed, but we've played in a lot more games away from home where we haven't performed and just failed to turn up.
It is mental, it's a psychological barrier, and it is something we'll need to find a way to get over as a players' group, as a leaders' group. Within the players' group it's something we need to enforce within the group. To be honest, at the minute, I'm not sure how we do it. The best way to do it is by winning games away from home.
