MRS Allen thought her son's World Cup dream was over at just past midday on Monday while Cory was still in bed, scared to find out his fate.

The 22-year-old Cardiff Blues centre, wracked by nerves, was avoiding the announcement of Warren Gatland's 31-strong squad for England 2015.

But his mum was tuned in and her heart sank when first name read out in alphabetical order was Scott Baldwin.

Thankfully for her chairman Gareth Davies had neglected to state that he would read out the forwards first and he went on to announce that Allen had pipped Newport Gwent Dragons teenager Tyler Morgan to the third spot in midfield.

The Blues man, who turned on his phone at 1pm, has not featured so far this summer after sitting out the first game against Ireland in Cardiff and then acting as travelling reserve in Dublin.

He will finally win his third cap against Italy at the Millennium Stadium tomorrow (kick-off 5pm).

"I wasn't ready for the first game after dislocating my shoulder in March and then in the second one they went with a full-strength side," he said.

"I would have liked to have been involved but it gave me the extra couple of weeks for rehab and my shoulder is strong, ready to go for Italy."

Allen feared the injury suffered when making a tackle against Ulster had left him too much to do.

"I knew the timeframe was about four months after the shoulder op because I've had two of them on the right shoulder," he said.

"I had a different operation on the third one to stabilise it a bit more – the surgeon assured me it's not going to dislocate again.

"As soon as I did it I got the phone out to work out four months and make sure I'd be back fit in time!

"I knew it was cutting it fine but that all I could do was come in and work my backside off, giving everything in training to get picked."

Allen's last international appearance was against Australia last autumn and he is thrilled to be in a near full-strength back line; swap him for Jamie Roberts and Alex Cuthbert for Liam Williams and it's what Gatland will plump for against England and the Wallabies.

"It's almost a year since I was involved and it's a dream come true to play for my country," he said. "Every time I get named I am so excited. The whole week there's just a good buzz.

"I've been named in a really strong back-line and a really strong squad. It's good for me to get to play around those experienced boys in my first game for five months.

"We've got an exciting back line so hopefully we will get a lot of ball. I'm just looking forward to playing rugby again."