HAVING BEEN PARACHUTED in to start Ireland’s Six Nations title-clinching defeat of Scotland last month, Jordan Larmour made an eye-catching return to provincial duty last weekend.

Larmour came in to play at late notice in the round five defeat of Scotland, starting at fullback after Hugo Keenan pulled out during the warm-up. Making his first Test start since July 2021, Larmour had a solid outing in the 15 jersey and was back at fullback as he returned to action with Leinster last weekend.

Larmour played a lot of rugby at fullback during his first three seasons with Leinster but has almost exclusively been used as a winger in recent years, with Friday’s defeat of the Bulls just his fifth start in the Leinster 15 shirt over the last four seasons.

However with Hugo Keenan and Ciarán Frawley both doubts for Saturday’s Champions Cup date with Leicester Tigers, Larmour could be asked to continue in the role for the must-win round of 16 clash.

His bright attacking performance against the Bulls suggests Leo Cullen won’t have any concerns about keeping Larmour in the starting side.

With his first carry, Larmour immediately made his attacking intent clear, stepping inside the first defender before offloading to James Lowe, who knocks the ball on.

Larmour didn’t see as much ball as he would have liked across a niggly first half, but the former St. Andrew’s College man was heavily involved as Leinster pulled clear in the second period.

Leinster started the second half with just 14 men following Luke McGrath’s yellow card, with Larmour the man tasked with stepping in at nine.

While Leinster’s speed of play dropped with Larmour at scrum-half, he settled into the role and caused the Bulls a few problems, including this snipe down the middle.

Overall, Larmour did a decent job filling in at scrum-half, with the above examples coming during a 19-phase passage of play that ended with James Lowe going over for Leinster’s third try.

Moments later, Larmour was the catalyst for the bonus-point try when the yellow card period ended and he returned to fullback.

Larmour’s initial burst of pace gets Leinster moving down the wing before Rob Russell carries the province to the edge of the 22, where Jamison Gibson-Park and Harry Bryne combine before Larmour gets his hands on the ball again.

With Joe McCarthy an option to his right, Larmour backs himself to cut inside Kurt-Lee Arendse and would probably have been in for a try had he not lost his footing. Instead, the slip allows Devon Williams tackle Larmour to the ground, but Gibson-Park swoops in to send Michael Milne over for the bonus-point score.

At this point Leinster had their tails up, Larmour getting plenty of touches as the home side started to play with real swagger – linking up nicely with Gibson-Park to send Russell sprinting down the wing again.

With his next carry, Larmour beat another defender and offloaded to Jamie Osborne as Leinster pushed toward the Bulls’ 22.

Brimming with confidence, Larmour’s last contribution of the evening was this chip and chase, which carried Leinster from deep in their own 22 out to the 10-metre line.

“He’s looking sharp, isn’t he?” says Leinster assistant coach Andrew Goodman.

“It’s great to see him moving so well and seeing space so well and when he gets moving like that and using his step and being decisive, it’s great to see.

“Rob Russell on the wing was the same, serious speed but really decisive in all his decisions, so I thought that back three worked really well together on Friday night and will put pressure on us as a coaching team to consider them in the big games moving forward.”

Of course, Larmour’s standout moment against the Bulls came midway through the first half.

With Leinster attacking on kick return, Russell and Jack Conan do well to keep the ball alive before Harry Byrne hits Larmour, who goes tearing down the middle.

From the moment he gets possession there is only one thing on Larmour’s mind, his speed and footwork taking him past three defenders before he plays a smart pass inside to Osborne.

Osborne then does well to offload to Josh van der Flier, and the flanker runs home to finish a brilliant team move.

It a wonderful piece of incisive, clinical attacking play from Larmour, who made 110 metres and beat nine defenders on the night.

“At fullback you probably get a bit more ball running, like if they are kicking long,” says Goodman.

“He [Larmour] got a couple of those ones running forward at the weekend where he hit the ball at speed if he catches it, so he probably gets a few more of those occasions. When he is on the wing anyway he’s such a busy guy that he’ll find his way onto the ball somehow.

“So probably different touches, but I think he gets involved well at fullback.”

If Larmour is retained at fullback this weekend, Leicester will surely look to put more pressure on him defensively, but Leinster winger James Lowe says his back three partner will be more than up to the task.

“He’s annoying to play with because you never know what he is going to do,” says Lowe.

“I don’t think even he knows what he is going to do. When you are playing with Robot Barry, Robot Hugo [Keenan] in the backfield you know exactly what he is going to do: all the right things. Straight up and down.

Playing with Jordo is fun because you know he is going to try and get his arms free, he is going to step and move and he has really developed his linking game as well.

“Two years ago you would think he almost does all the hard work and then miss the easy pass. Now he is doing that and putting other people away and the first try that Josh ended up scoring was the perfect example.

“He did all the hard work and then gave the pass. Josh ends up scoring and almost takes out a rib.

“He has come a long way and defensively he’s getting better. It’s tough at fullback. You think it’s tough on the wingers but he has to go side to side and in this defensive system. Fair play, he earned his spot at 15 in that Test match [against Scotland] and he played well, got his chance on the weekend [against the Bulls] as well.”

Keep it up, and Larmour could very well have an important part to play across Leinster’s season run-in.