Larmour has the right stuff
LANCASTER BACKS JORDAN’S HUNGER
STUART Lancaster believes the current group of Ireland players have matured under Joe Schmidt. In 2013, Lancaster was the last England head coach to win in Dublin as his side beat an Ireland team that included nine of the current squad.
That 12-6 England win came during Declan Kidney’s final Six Nations campaign, but speaking yesterday Leinster senior coach Lancaster explained that he sees a more assured, confident team under Schmidt.
‘I was lucky, we managed to beat Ireland in Ireland, I think Brian O’Driscoll’s wife had given birth that morning [in 2013], so we caught him on a quiet day,’ Lancaster joked.
‘There’s a huge confidence that the Irish players have from playing at the Aviva, they’ve had a lot of success there and a lot of memories. That drives standards, expectation and the desire to want to win. I think they are very difficult to beat, but to be a champion team you’ve got to win at home and away.
‘It shows the mark of the team, the maturity of the Irish team that without playing brilliantly against France that they found a way to win. They deserved it really. ‘To do what they did with the culmination of Johnny’s drop goal was exceptional and shows how far the squad has matured. All teams go through ups and downs, defeats and wins and Ireland have had one or two losses along the way but they look a very accomplished team at the moment.’
However, Lancaster also warned that both Ireland and England cannot look ahead to their roundfive clash at Twickenham as a potential Grand Slam decider.
‘I think Ireland will 100 per cent only have their focus on Wales,’ he continued, speaking as Leinster announced a new partnership with Dublin’s Intercontinental Hotel.
‘People underestimate how good Wales are defensively, how good they are in attack, you saw how well they played in the second half against England and on a dry day, they can carve teams up.
‘I don’t think England will be getting too far ahead of themselves, either.’
Leinster take on Scarlets in the Pro14 on Saturday, and welcomed Jordan Larmour back for training yes- terday after he won his first Ireland cap at the weekend. It wasn’t quite a fairytale debut for the explosive Leinster star — his display included a missed tackle that led to an Edoardo Gori try — but Lancaster insists the 20-year-old’s confidence won’t be affected. ‘I was quite fortunate in a lot of ways in that I gave 25 or 30 players their first cap with England and a lot of them were Jordan’s age... Anthony Watson, Jonathan Joseph, George [Ford], Owen [Farrell], the list goes on.
‘One of the markers for me was whether they would have the ability or not to deal with the game, the occasion, the week leading into the game was their temperament and a personality. There were one or two that I was more cautious of and maybe I didn’t pick them for whatever reason.
‘The ones who I felt had the temperament, you’d pick and they would never let you down. Jordan is in that category. He has a great temperament, he’s hungry to learn, wants to get better; if he makes a mistake he won’t dwell on it too long.
‘A player who has made a mistake can sometimes be thinking in a game “oh my God, I have just made a mistake” or the consequence of the mistake is this.
‘They go out of the moment and the best place to stay is in the moment all the time. Jordan can do that.’