Larmour is still finding ways to improve at Leinster
3 caps won by Jordan Larmour for Ireland after making his debut against Italy in February
FOR such an energetic presence on the pitch, Jordan Larmour cuts quite a casual figure off it. In the space of nine months, the versatile back has made his senior Leinster debut, won his first Ireland cap, tasted Six Nations and Grand Slam success while also helping his province to a first Champions Cup title in six years. Family and friends may struggle for gift ideas when he turns 21 in a few weeks’ time.
‘It’s been a good season so far,’ is his modest summary of the campaign to date.
‘I’d written down on my notebook [at the beginning of the year] just to start in the British and Irish Cup, and get a few Pro14 games under my belt. So to be where I am now, I couldn’t have asked for any more. I always wanted to play for Leinster so it’s a dream come true.’
While he admits that the speed of his rise through the pro ranks still boggles the mind, what he has found most surprising is just how comfortable he has felt in a Leinster dressing room full of worldclass talent and hardened winners.
‘I thought it would be a lot different. But it’s just like another rugby team,’ he explains.
‘It’s a group of lads, everyone just playing the game. Everyone just loving playing it as well. The competition for places is so high in here. If you have a bad training session it hangs over you. You go in and have a video session and see where you can do better. Every day you come in you are trying to get better and improve.
‘When you go from the sub academy into the academy and into the senior squad, they are all stepping stones which helps you get more prepared. When you are playing AIL rugby, you are playing bigger men so you get a little bit of a taste but there is always going to be that little bit of a step up when you are playing professional rugby.’
From the outside looking in, the strengths in Larmour’s game that have helped him shine on the big stage are all skills that tend to come naturally. He is a player who is led by his instincts. He’s not afraid to do something off the cuff — like wriggling through the smallest gap on the pitch — even when the odds are stacked against him.
It was against Leinster’s Pro14 final opponents on Saturday — Scarlets — in the Champions Cup semi-final that Johnny Sexton felt the need to have a word with the enthusiastic young star after he ignored a Leinster overlap and opted to take on a wall of defenders before failing to find a way through.
‘You are always going to listen to the senior lads on the team and the coaches,’ he continues. ‘But, like, if there is a gap and you see one, you will always back yourself. And they’ll tell you that as well. It’s not always plain sailing. If you see something that they might not, you have licence to do it.
‘On that occasion [against Scarlets], it was probably a very bad idea. I probably won’t do it again. There is a balance between backing yourself and knowing when to say no.
‘It is probably in the bigger games where it counts more. That’s why I talk about going back to keep learning.’
Currently, Larmour is staying back after training to do defensive one-on-one work with Leinster’s elite player development officer Hugh Hogan, but he also dedicates time to doing footwork drills to keep his attacking game effective as he becomes more of a marked man.
In particular, it is Larmour’s ability to step off both feet that has seen him recognised as a special talent, even in a group as talented as this current Leinster squad. There are not many players who, in their first season, would have the ability and confidence to score the kind of magical solo tries he has produced against both Munster and Ulster over the course of the season.
‘I’ve never really thought about being different,’ he says.
‘I just kind of tried to do the best I can, be the best rugby player I can. I always wanted to be a professional rugby player so when you get that opportunity you just want to take it and get better and better. I still feel like I’ve a lot more to learn and give in the game. All I can do is keep putting my head down and keep working hard and just try to get better.
‘My step and things like that is my strength so I definitely want to work on my strength, [but] I’ve been humiliated a fair amount in training as well. I’ll take it as it comes.’