Larmour delights and turns focus to future conquests
LIKE many of this new generation, Jordan Larmour was just a young teenager looking ahead to his Junior Cert the last time Ireland secured a Grand Slam.
Along with the likes of Dan Leavy, James Ryan, Joey Carbery and Jacob Stockdale, Larmour has burst onto the international scene in the past 12 months.
The Leinster talent only made his Test debut against Italy in the second round of the championship but Joe Schmidt has known about Larmour’s talents for quite some time. The wondrously-talented 20-year-old has been a regular fixture at Carton House for the best part of 18 months.
And all those sessions at Ireland’s base camp certainly paid dividends at Twickenham yesterday. When Ireland lost Bundee Aki to a head injury, it was Larmour who was sent on to plug the gap in midfield for the final quarter of the contest.
The fact that Schmidt’s side finished the game with a 10-1213 axis of Carbery, Ringrose and Larmour points to a bright future. A Grand Slam and a record 12th successive Test win are in the locker.
‘Yeah, it’s pretty special,’ said Larmour following Ireland’s win at Twickenham.
‘I remember back to 2009 when I was at home watching the lads win the second Grand Slam. It’s a pretty special feeling and to do it with this group of players is very special.
‘It was very tough and physical, but having the likes of Garry Ringrose when I went into 13 because I hadn’t got that many reps at 13 during the week, but having him was a big help. It was a tough game.’
Next on the agenda for Schmidt and Co is a three-Test tour of Australia in June before the All Blacks arrive in Dublin this November.
Ireland will then defend their Six Nations crown before preparations begin for the World Cup in Japan. On recent evidence, Ireland have nothing to fear in the coming 18 months, and there is a sense that something special is brewing for this talented group.
‘It’s good to get this Grand Slam but this group has a lot more in us,’ added Larmour.
‘We need to keep working and keep improving and building towards the World Cup. That would be the main goal but we have another Six Nations and then we have a summer tour.
‘The focus shifts to the summer tour now and getting the work done so we can have a good tour.’
For Larmour, this has truly been a season to remember.
‘At the start of the season if you told me I’d be in a Grand Slam-winning team, I wouldn’t have believed you at all. It’s been a very special year for me and it just shows that hard work can pay off,’ he added.
‘At the start of the season, I was just hoping to play with Leinster A and maybe get a few caps with the Leinster senior team. To break into that team and kick on here is really special.
‘Obviously today is a very special moment in my season. Probably just being selected throughout the season gives you a bit of confidence to know that if you’re playing well, you’ll get selected.
‘That’s why I got selected for this squad. I’ve just grown more more confidence. Then you just keep working and hopefully you get a shot and then you just take it.’
In the build-up to this clash, Rory Best said Ireland would need to deliver their best performance of the championship against and an England side reeling from successive defeats against Scotland and France.
They duly delivered their most accomplished display of the campaign, in defence and attack, with a three-try salvo in the first half doing the damage.
Ringrose, so impressive since his timely return from an ankle injury last month, set Ireland on their way with a poacher’s try thanks to Johnny Sexton’s perfectly-executed aerial bomb.
The next score was straight of the training paddock at Carton House as Aki split the England midfield apart thanks to a deft pass from Tadhg Furlong before sending CJ Stander powering over the line.
‘Joe came up with the move,’ said Ireland’s tighthead, who was named man of the match.
‘I probably had to practice it a bit during the week.
‘Fair play to Bundee, he took the line off me while Johnny was wrapping around Lads worked hard off the back of it, CJ did well to grunt his way to the post.’
Before long, Jacob Stockdale was touching down and breaking Six Nations records in the process. England rallied in the second-half and had the final say when Jonny May crossed the dying seconds, but the party had already started.
‘You have to be satisfied to come to Twickenham and win a Grand Slam,’ added Furlong.