Hughes 500 - you are absolutely right and most of us fully understand the energy management concept which is why there is no 'one size fits all' solution to entering auto because there are so many different combinations of entry parameters.
Consider PG's (and others) assertion that cyclic flare is the best form of energy management - why waste 100hp/sec (Dick Sandford's figures from the Robinson Safety Course) just keeping the Nr up by flaring when you could stop the Nr decaying by lowering the lever fully AND still have that extra energy available to you.
If you have lots of speed then fine, use flare to minimise the height loss (or even gain some if you are quick and have a responsive aircraft) but for goodness sake lower the lever (maybe not fully in the high speed cruise) - why would you use your precious energy up overcoming rotor drag (from having pitch applied) when you don't need to.
Try the aft cyclic first technique in a max power climb at 60 kts and you will probably die because in this case and many, many others, the lever down MUST be a priority.
Remember - engine fails.......pause, 1 second, two seconds for real world reaction times - where is your Nr now in the fast cruise at 14 degrees of pitch???? decaying very, very rapidly! Lower the lever AND flare might just save your bacon - flaring without lowering the lever might slow down the rate of Nr decay but it won't stop it, not at such high collective pitch angles.
None of the anti-aft cyclic heretics such as myself have ever said lower the lever without moving the cyclic, we have all said use both controls but lead with lever always.