Scotland forward Rob Harley is predicting big things from Alex Allan next year following his breakthrough 2016.

Despite making his Scotland debut back in 2014, it was last month where former Sedbergh School pupil Allan has really made his mark.

The 28-year-old impressed coming off the bench as Scotland down Argentina and Georgia, while Allan has also started to establish himself in the Glasgow Warriors first XV.

And Warriors teammate Harley is convinced Allan’s blistering speed will only make for a big year for the front rower.

“Alex Allan is probably the fastest prop I have ever seen, he has very impressive speed,” Harley said.

“I am sure he is taking confidence from the way he played in the autumn and hoping to push on and win more caps.

“He has been playing well for Glasgow at the moment as well and scored an outrageous sidestep try against the Dragons and had the pace to go all the way through.

“He is good at the fundamentals, the stuff you would expect – scrummaging well, good at the lineout work, also he has that advantage of something extra special. He is really quick and a dangerous player with ball in hand.”

Allan didn’t feature in the 2016 Six Nations as it was a similar story for Scotland – winning just twice to finish fourth.

However, that November victory over Argentina as well as a narrow one-point loss to Australia the week before has given Harley confidence that 2017 can be an entirely different story.

“We have seen that in the performances out on the field that we are building something,” he added.

“Similar to Glasgow, we have put together good results in the autumn and we are looking to kick on in the Six Nations – that’s similar to Europe for Glasgow, we want to push on in that and achieve something that we haven’t done.

“I think the performances in the autumn show that we are capable of playing and winning against any team at this level.

“It is exciting that we get the chance to play three home games in this Six Nations and that is a huge chance for us to do well in this contest. It will be about being together as a squad, maximising our chances and putting in good performances across all the games.”

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