England flew out of South Africa last Saturday evening to Heathrow as the rightful champions, the consistency of their potent scrum and manipulative defence helping them to a deserved first title since 2016.
A green bottle of Castle Lite was suddenly the beverage of choice… and why not? England had just been crowned champions. “I've already necked two,” he chucked.
Ahead by a single point at the break after riding their luck at times during an edgy opening half, Mark Mapletoft’s dynamos took ample advantage of the yellow carding of Mathis Castro-Ferreira.
Thirteen months ago, he was suddenly made redundant. London Irish collapsed, leaving the senior academy member at an awkward loose end that was eventually tied up via a trial at Leicester and a subsequent contract offer from them to complement his university studies at Loughborough.
If the double doesn’t materialise, though, he doesn’t want people judging the RFU’s pathway programme based on a single result in South Africa versus an opposition gunning to collect its fourth U20 Championship title in a row.
Mark Mapletoft’s side demonstrated their ability to squeeze teams in that last four success, holding the Irish scoreless in the second half to win 31-20 after leading 22-20 at the interval.
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.
It was last Tuesday following match day three when the appetising semi-final line-up was confirmed, pitting Rugby Championship champions New Zealand against defending World Rugby champions France just 10 days after they served up a July 4 thriller in Stellenbosch while Six Nations champions England will go head-to-head with runners-up Ireland 18 weeks after they conjured a compelling 32-all classic at Bath.
The reigning age-grade Six Nations champions completed their Pool C campaign with a gruelling 17-12 win over South Africa last Tuesday at Athlone.
A knock prevented Michelow from togging out for the middle game versus Fiji but he was in the thick against southern hemisphere heavyweight duo Argentina and South Africa, registering a combined total of 42 carries and 35 tackles.