Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
‘MOUR TO DO Blues ace Jordan not standing still
JORDAN LARMOUR is ready for extra homework as he bids to become an even more valuable player for Leinster and Ireland this season.
The 21-year-old Leinster star enjoyed a dream breakthrough last term winning a Grand Slam with Ireland and the Champions Cup (below) and Pro14 titles with his province.
He was a surprise package last season but that’s not the case now – and he knows he’ll need to be even better to make a similar impact this time around.
Leinster coach Stuart Lancaster says Larmour will kick on, and the player says one of the things he’ll do is watch more rugby on the telly.
“I watch a good bit but I’d say some of the other lads watch a good bit more than me, some of them are nerds of the game, but I definitely watch a good bit of rugby,” he said.
“Last year, I would probably have been just watching them but now I’m looking to see what defences are doing, why they’re doing it, why some teams play a specific shape, seeing what they’re trying to do to get around teams or go through teams.
“I’m trying to be more of a student of the game and understand why teams do what they do.”
Lancaster compared the youngster to All Black star Damian Mckenzie earlier this week, and Larmour said: “It’s important to be open-minded and see how other players play. Damian Mckenzie is an unbelievable player, so trying to add a few things off him, new ideas might help my game a bit,” Larmour added.
“I like to watch Keith Earls a lot too. Anything that will help that, you want to incorporate into your game somehow.
“I’m doing a lot of work on my high ball, with my kicking, my defending... it’s kind of just trying to bring those areas up. Those are the main targets I’d have.”