Northern Edition
Select Edition
Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Getting to know: England U20s scrum-half Ollie Allan

Ollie Allan scores for England in their World Rugby U20 Championship semi-final win over Ireland (Photo by Carl Fourie/World Rugby)

It’s been quite the adventure in South Africa for England, the reigning Six Nations champions emerging from a series of adverse in-game situations to reach this Friday’s World Rugby U20 Championship final versus France.

ADVERTISEMENT

Ollie Allan wasn’t available to head coach Mark Mapletoft during the European spring. Instead, he was hamstrung and watched the title-clinching victory over the French in Pau from his university digs in Loughborough.

With that pesky leg ailment since healed, Allan has returned to the England squad and been a key component in what has been achieved so far in the Cape Town winter.

Video Spacer

HITS, BUMPS AND HANDOFFS! | The biggest collisions from the U20s World Championships

Video Player is loading.
Current Time 0:00
Duration 14:30
Loaded: 3.42%
Stream Type LIVE
Remaining Time 14:30
 
1x
    • Chapters
    • descriptions off, selected
    • captions off, selected
    • en (Main), selected
    Video Spacer

    HITS, BUMPS AND HANDOFFS! | The biggest collisions from the U20s World Championships

    Only the scrum-half and skipper Finn Carnduff, his Leicester clubmate, have started all four games against Argentina, Fiji, South Africa and Ireland, a run of selection vindicated by the snazzy fashion he ran in his first-half try against the Irish last Sunday at the DHL Stadium.

    Preparing for an age-grade World Cup final is very different compared to what Allan was doing at this exact time a year ago. London Irish had just folded and he was scratching around to see what alternative might materialise. It eventually turned out to be Tigers.

    Fixture
    World Rugby U20 Championship
    England U20
    21 - 13
    Full-time
    France U20
    All Stats and Data

    Ahead of the World Cup final, he took a post-lunchtime break from his England preparations to tackle the RugbyPass Q&A, a quickfire 36-question, five-section session where his answers included Ben Youngs, Patrick O’Grady and Bawo:

    THE BASICS
    Born: February 4, 2004;
    Joined England age-grade: First game was at Millfield U18s against Italy;
    Club: Leicester;
    Height: 6ft;
    Weight: 89kg;
    Position: Scrum-half;
    Boots: Adidas RS15 (Nike Tiempo in recent games);
    Gumshield: I’ve a retainer one;
    Headgear: No;
    School: St John’s in Marlborough.

    ADVERTISEMENT

    RATE YOURSELF (out of 100)
    Pace: 92, I back myself;
    Passing: 90;
    Tackling: 82.

    THE PAST
    My favourite England player of all time is… I would say Ben Youngs is definitely up there;

    Favourite try I have ever scored is… Probably against DMP for Rams when I was on loan last year. It was halfway, a little snipe and then gassed it to the line;

    A rugby memory that makes me smile is… Playing for Hungerford, my local grassroots team seniors. Getting a run out there was quite fun a couple of years ago;

    ADVERTISEMENT

    The moment I realised I could make it is… I’d say when I transitioned to scrum-half. That was at London Irish. My coach Patrick O’Grady transitioned me to scrum-half. I sort of started getting more trust from the coaches and felt I was progressing more quickly;

    One piece of advice I would give to my younger self is… Trust the process;

    My best subject in school was… God, this is bad; PE. I used to do history. I wasn’t very good but I enjoyed it;

    The first player who made me fall in love with rugby is… That’s a good question. I don’t really know. I’d say probably watching (Manu) Tuilagi;

    Growing up, my position was… I was 10, 15 at Irish before moving to scrum-half. At my Hungerford club I started at 10, then went to centre, back to 10 and then to nine;

    The coach who has most impacted my game is… My dad and I would say Patrick O’Grady as well.

    THE PRESENT
    My best attributes on the field are… My kicking, speed of pass, physicality;

    One thing I’m doing to improve my education is… I’m at Loughborough, sports science;

    My favourite current England player is… Ben Earl;

    My favourite YouTuber is… Beta Squad;

    My hardest working teammate is… Finn (Carnduff), the captain;

    My most skilful teammate is… I’d say Ben Redshaw is probably up there;

    My favourite training drill is… 15-v-15;

    My favourite music artist is… This changes every week. I do a lot of Bawo, quite a low key artist.

    THE FUTURE
    A player who could go all the way is… Asher (Opoku-Fordjour);

    If I could play with anyone, I would like to play with… Anybody? I guess Dan Carter. It would be nice to be paired with him;

    I will be happy with my career if I… Continue to make my family proud, if my future kids see me as a role model, someone to look up to;

    One thing I want to add to my game is… My sort of, what’s the word, attacking threat around the breakdown;

    If I could play in any other country, I would play in… I’d love to play in France;

    One person I want to meet is… Anyone in the world? I haven’t really thought about that. Chris Hemsworth;

    One trophy I would love to win is… The World Cup.

    • Click here to sign up to RugbyPass TV for free live coverage of matches from the 2024 World Rugby U20 Championship in countries that don’t have an exclusive local host broadcaster deal

    Related

    ADVERTISEMENT
    LIVE

    First Nations & Pasifika XV vs British & Irish Lions

    New Zealand v South Africa | World Rugby U20 Championship | Extended Highlights

    USA vs England | Men's International | Full Match Replay

    France v Argentina | World Rugby U20 Championship | Extended Highlights

    Lions Share | Episode 4

    Zimbabwe vs Namibia | Rugby Africa Cup Final | Full Match Replay

    USA vs Fiji | Women's International | Full Match Replay

    KOKO Show | July 15th | Jamie Roberts and Allana Ferguson help KOKO prepare for the first Test

    Tattoos & Rugby: Why are tattoos so popular with sportspeople? | Amber Schonert | Rugby Rising Locker Room Season 2

    Trending on RugbyPass

    Comments

    0 Comments
    Be the first to comment...

    Join free and tell us what you really think!

    Sign up for free
    ADVERTISEMENT

    Latest Features

    Comments on RugbyPass

    LONG READ
    LONG READ Iconic Lions moments of the professional era: 5-1 Iconic Lions moments of the professional era: 5-1