WATCH OUT EUROPE

Leinster’s latest star Larmour set to take Champions Cup by storm in first start

GRIZZLED ex-forward Leo Cullen sidestepped like a back yesterday when the elephant in the Leinster HQ room was put to the head coach — the benching of Ireland full-back Rob Kearney for tomorrow’s Champions Cup Dublin showdown with Glasgow.

Prior to Kearney’s name cropping up in question, there was genuine excitement from the top-table duo of Cullen and skipper Isa Nacewa about Jordan Larmour’s selection for his first European start following a pair of cameos off the bench last month against Exeter.

One kid’s gain was one veteran’s dramatic demotion from the No15 shirt. But Cullen refused to get into the specifics of this eyecatching switch, instead suggesting the team chosen was a balancing act given Leinster have only a six-day turnaround before next Saturday’s game at Montpellier.

‘It’s across the board really,’ he said, embarking on a general reply where he curiously avoided mentioning Kearney by name. ‘There is a number of guys that are very unlucky to miss out this week.

‘It’s a good place that the group are in. They are working hard for each other, which is great, and there is a number of guys that have been unlucky with very, very close calls.

‘But that is what we want. We want a competitive group and it’s important that they are all trying to push along for each other in the same direction. You know what the season is like, injuries are part and parcel of the game.

‘We need to be able to be prepared for injuries and be prepared when key players are missing. We have a few in other positions that are on the sidelines at the moment. There was a lot of tough calls this week.’

The difference in experience between Larmour and Kearney is night and day. One is a 20-year-old with just seven Pro14 starts to his name. The other is a venerated star of the sport, a 31-year-old who has blazed a trophy-winning trail for club and country and twice been a touring Lion. However, that CV wasn’t enough to have Kearney start against the Warriors at the RDS. Instead, the free-spirited Larmour, fresh from ravishing scores against Munster and Ulster, gets an opportunity to see how he copes from the off at the higher level that is Europe. Quite a promotion given the Ireland Six Nations squad announcement is only days away.

‘Jordan is just fun to play with and he is playing well,’ said Nacewa, the skipper who checks in 15 years and three months older than the latest kid in the Leinster block.

‘He wasn’t here during the successful times of Leinster’s past (Larmour was 14 when the province last lifted the European Cup), but that is a good thing because he doesn’t have and boundaries in the way he thinks.

‘He is getting out there and enjoying himself, playing his style of

rugby and he has played bloody well. We just feed off that.

‘When he first came on board he looked like an out-and-out finisher that knew how to get to the try line. The coaches have done a superb job managing him. He was involved in the Dragons game, the first game of the season, scored a great try. And he has just got better every week.

‘He works hard off the field as well with the coaches and in the analysis room and is always trying to improve. That is a good quality for him to have.

‘He has got a really canny ability to keep his high speed when he is side-stepping off either foot. You don’t see that in every player. When he can do that, similar to the try he scored in Munster, it’s a pretty special talent to have and he showcases that on a weekly basis in training. I have to run fast to keep up with him,’ continued the veteran, who refused to compare Larmour to existing rugby legends.

‘I don’t want to force him into any box. He is just doing things his own way. That is the beauty about it.’

Less aesthetic is the passport conundrum that tomorrow has new signing James Lowe starting on the wing following the exclusion of usual reserve scrum-half Jamison Gibson Park, his fellow Kiwi.

Clubs are only allowed a maximum of two non-European players in their matchday 23 for Champions Cup and with Aussie Scott Fardy a dead-cert for the second row, a foreigner had to lose out elsewhere. It’s an unfair quirk as how players are deemed “European” is complicated with nearly all South Africans and Pacific Islanders deemed “European” because of certain EU agreements.

‘It makes it a little bit complicated with selection,’ admitted Cullen. ‘Those guys know that, and we just need to get on with it as best we can.’