WHEN JORDAN LARMOUR returned from a lengthy injury lay-off last season, the Leinster flyer came back with a bang.
The second half of Larmour’s campaign was severely curtailed by facial and hip injuries which restricted the winger to just four appearances for the province between January and April.
He stole the show from fullback when he returned to the side for a URC win against Munster in May, and after the disappointment of missing out on the Champions Cup final squad one week later, Larmour delivered a scintillating display in the URC quarter-final defeat of Glasgow.
That late burst of form ultimately came too deep into the season in terms of the international picture. Larmour travelled to New Zealand with Andy Farrell’s Ireland squad and featured against the Maori All Blacks, but you have to go back to July 2021 for his last full Ireland cap.
With November internationals on the horizon, the 25-year-old is still hoping to push his way back into Farrell’s thinking, but Larmour has learned not to focus too much of his energy on Test team ambitions as Leinster prepare for a run of games against the Sharks, Munster, Connacht and Scarlets.
“You’ve got to be putting your hand up if you want to get picked for the national team, so you have to play well and show what you’re about,” Larmour says.
“When it comes down to it you’ve got to be playing better than other lads to get ahead of them. [But] It’s not something I’m massively thinking about. That’s kind of in the back of my head, I know I’ve got to play well to get picked so I’m just focusing on doing my role for the team and doing the best that I can.
“You don’t want to put too much pressure on yourself at the same time because if you make those mistakes [in a game] you’re just going to be thinking about it the whole time, so it’s a fine balance of knowing you have to play well but also just focus on your own job and not listen to the outside noise, and just listen to the coach, listen to your teammates, they’re always going to try to get the best out of the team.
“Then it’s about trying to get the best out of yourself by preparing well, doing extras in training, focusing on things you need to get better at. Just focusing on that, really.”
Few players in Irish rugby can excite a crowd the way Larmour can when he’s at his electric best. Last year, he spoke of being conscious of not straying too far from the exciting, quick-footed young player who burst onto the scene in the 2017/18 season. Larmour knows he is at his most dangerous when playing on instinct, but he is also conscious of becoming a more rounded player.
“The big thing for me would be not going away from the basics, really trying to get better at that – kicking, passing, tackling, high ball work, all that kind of stuff.
“Especially as a winger, honing in on what a winger actually has to do. As you saw on the weekend [against Ulster], it’s all about our kick-chase and making that first initial tackle, then chasing a kick and trying to catch it.
So, I suppose, keep improving those areas and then off the back of that, hopefully big moments come to you and you just take your chance and you play on instinct, you’re not over-thinking how to beat a player, you just do it. But I’m just trying to think about doing those basics really well.”
This year he has a new face keeping a close eye on his development, with former Crusaders man Andrew Goodman replacing Felipe Contepomi as Leinster’s attack coach.
“He’s been really good, he’s brought a great work-rate and energy into the group,” Larmour explains.
“The things we do, we do with a high tempo out on the pitch but then he has great detail and just the little things we do in our moves and set plays, so he’s been brilliant so far. I think it probably shows in the results we’ve been getting too, so hopefully we can keep kicking on and growing with him.
All coaches have their different styles in how they want to do things and one of the big things with him is he’s very open minded. He’ll listen to us, a lot of the stuff we do is player feedback, we’ll give it to him and it’s being a bit more player led as well so it’s us talking a little bit more in meetings and things like that and getting across our work early in the week, who we’re playing and what will they bring, what are their threats.”
This Saturday Leinster are back at home for an RDS clash with the Sharks, who have former Leinster Academy manager Noel McNamara on their coaching ticket.
“I had him at [Leinster] U18s,” Larmour explains.
“He was in here for a number of years so he knows Leinster pretty well, how we like to defend, attack, all the little things we like to do, so I’m sure he’ll be filling all the Sharks boys in on what we like to do.”
Leinster expect the Sharks to offer them their most physical examination yet this season, but Larmour is keen to stress that the South African sides offer much more than just brute force.
“Number one, their athletic ability, they’re very quick and have great feet, they’re great in the air. [Aphelele] Fassi, who plays 15 for them, he’s really good and the last time we played them he was their main guy so we’ll probably be about trying to close him down, trying to take their time and space away.
“But right throughout their backline they have threats and one of the big things is the line speed they bring to try and put you under pressure, so they really test your skill set.
“It’s going to be a big challenge for us this week but it’s one we’re looking forward to.”
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