New Accies recruit Allan needed no second invitation to move north

By BILL LOTHIAN
Published on 28/08/2012 13:50

with an Edinburgh Accies competitive debut behind him, prop forward Alex Allan has revealed he didn’t have to think twice when offered the chance to move north and add to representative honours that include 15 Scotland Under-20 caps.

For the past two seasons 
Allan has been the cornerstone of the Scotland Under-20s and that has earned him a place on Edinburgh’s elite development roster for the season ahead.

It is a major jump to the pro ranks but on the evidence of helping Accies to a 10-10 draw at Currie in the premiership on Saturday, the 6ft 2in and 108kg prospect is one to watch.

“It was an easy decision to make to a move to Edinburgh,” said Allan, who has helped home club Harrogate win three Yorkshire Cups. “I was six years old when I started at Harrogate but I also count myself fortunate to have had two years in the first team at Sedbergh School before moving on to Loughborough University,” he added.

Sedbergh is the alma mater of former England captain Will Carling as well as 2003 World Cup winner Will Greenwood with a proven record of producing players of potential. Allan would love to follow in their bootstuds in honouring an ancestry qualification bequeathed by his Scottish-born father.

“Dad was more of a cross country runner but never failed to sit down and watch Scotland matches on television with me. He took me along to my first mini session from which I progressed all the way to visiting South Africa with Scotland Under-20s this summer.”

It was Alex’s second successive junior world championship and the fact he has chosen to attach himself to Accies is a reflection on the quality of coaching received from Simon Cross, who assists both the club and Scotland Under-20s. “I want to try to push into the Edinburgh squad and see how far I go,” he said. “As for Saturday’s draw the standard was similar to what I was playing down south.”