“He’s developing really nicely but the thing about Jordi is not to give him too much, too soon.”
Three days after Sean O’Brien uttered those words, Jordan Larmour was scoring two tries against Ulster and teeing up Fergus McFadden for another. The excitement that was building after that 70-metre counter-attack stunner against Munster burst off the charts.
Larmour went from skinning the Munster backline to making mush of Ulster at The RDS in the space of 11 festive days. Within six minutes against Ulster, he had cut through their defence and left wunderkind Jacob Stockdale grasping at air with an outrageously good step and score.
Cue the clamour.
What started as an optimistic, thrilling suggestion for the 2018 Six Nations is veering close to the inevitable. One gets the feeling that another sensational turn in one of Leinster’s upcoming Champions Cup games could yet convince Joe Schmidt to get Larmour in a green jersey sooner rather than later.
Former Munster and Ireland centre James Downey was in no doubt of Larmour’s ability during a conversation on the 22-year-old during The Hard Yards [from 1:00 below].
Downey believes Larmour will feature at Ireland’s training sessions at Carton House over the next couple of months, as he did when he was an uncapped Leinster academy player in the Spring of 2017.
“Regardless of what people may be saying about him being in the Six Nations squad or not,” said Downey, “I’m sure he will be selected in the extended squad Joe Schmidt is going to announce, and deservedly so.”
Asked if he was sure of Larmour’s inclusion in Schmidt’s Six Nations plans, Downey replied:
“Oh yeah, sure. 100%. You have to have him in.
“Johnny Sexton gave an interview [earlier this week] and he alluded to the fact that Schmidt had brought Jordan’s name up and that he had been in camp already. Joe is smart like that. He has these peripheral players in there, learning how it goes.
“He will be in that squad. Whether he is named in it or not, Jordan will be in there training and being around it. If you are going to go on form, absolutely. I’m sure Joe knows what his strengths and weaknesses are; 100%. It’s a big step up, international rugby, but I’m sure he’ll be ready for it.
“He’s done it at the weekend, up against Charles Piutau. He’s been up against many internationals at this stage and has made them look average. Why not?”
Schmidt has called in the likes of Josh van der Flier, Andrew Porter, Garry Ringrose, Kieran Treadwell, Joey Carbery and James Ryan in the past couple of years and is building a new-look squad for the next two Six Nations and World Cup 2019.
He may well ease the versatile fullback into the Test picture – like Ringrose and Ryan – by getting him down to Carton House for training runs and review sessions. The media and the public may get frustrated if that Ireland debut does not come in the first game but Schmidt will have a good idea of when to drop this livewire into the picture.
We’re looking at you, Italy.
