“Sitting with Tadhg in the stand, all we were saying was give us one more opportunity… “
Rory Best and Tadhg Furlong were as rapt as the rest of us, last Saturday night, as Ireland went through 41 phases before dropping the drop goal hammer on France.
Ireland’s Six Nations challenge was close to faltering at the first hurdle but they got off to a winning start and could go top by Saturday night if they comfortably beat Italy. That is within the cosy realms of possibility and may yet be helped by an exciting bench.
Joey Carbery, Andrew Porter, CJ Stander, Kieran Marmion and Jordan Larmour all lie in wait and could do serious damage to a flagging, stretched Italian side. Much of the focus has been on Larmour, who is set to make his Ireland debut, and Rory Best can see why.
“We’ve seen quite a bit of him over the years,” Best said at Friday’s Captain’s Run. “[He was] one of the academy guys to fill a spot. Now, all the other provinces in some shape or form have been affected by him over the last couple of months.
“Just to see him in training and the change of pace he has even in a walk through, which sounds ridiculous, but he is a very, very exciting talent.
“It’s a massive day for him, to get your debut is something that every young rugby player in Ireland dreams of, pulling on that green jersey. For him to do it for the first time, and to do it in the manner he’s played this season, he is massively deserving of being in the squad.”
Best’s comments on the aura presented by Larmour suggest the 20-year-old may well be the real deal.
“He’s quiet but you just know somebody… we’ve had it over the years, there’s always been at least one guy over the years that walks in and they may not fill the room with their presence in terms of how vocal they are, but when they’re on the training pitch you look at them and go, ‘this guy has time on the ball.’
“He makes what I would find very difficult things very easy.”
Larmour has been compared to New Zealand try-scoring sensation Christian Cullen but Best made an excellent point that once again shows how young the Dubliner is.
“I’m not even sure Jordan was born whenever Christian Cullen was playing,” Best remarked.
“I think it’s frightening that Cian Healy produced a picture from somewhere in 2009 when Jordan was one of the mascots or one of the guys waving the flags before a Leinster game. That’s frightening because I was married in 2009.
“But, look, the way he is around the place, he isn’t someone who strikes you as getting too uptight about things. The flip side of that, he gets very little wrong in training. To come in like that so young and into such a pressurised environment that we try to create, to be able to do that speaks volumes about his character.
“The last point on that is that if you want to see how someone’s going to react in a pressurised environment, European Cup is massive but the next step is the inter-pros. Look at the way he performed against Munster in Thomond Park and Leinster apparently resting their big guns.
“The way he played against them and then against us in the RDS, it speaks volumes for him as a player and him as a person.”
He has shown no problem stepping up to each challenge he has faced. Another one awaits against the Azzurri.
