Jordan Larmour: ‘I still feel that there’s a lot more in me’

By Brendan O’Brien

Jordan Larmour isn’t just blessed with fancy footwork. The man is a safe pair of hands as well.

Still just 21, the Leinster flyer seems to have skipped the chrysalis stage and emerged onto the senior club and international scenes as a full-formed pro. His youth and his growth as a person have been more obvious off the field.

Clearly nervous and sometimes hesitant when faced with a deluge of microphones last season, he is projecting a greater confidence this term and meeting some potentially tricky deliveries with an assurance that speaks of that developing maturity.

There was a slight smile when asked about Freddie Burns and whether he had ever done anything as boneheaded as the Bath back who was punished for his showboating by Toulouse’s Maxime Medard at The Rec in such memorable circumstances last Saturday.

“It was unfortunate, I suppose. Just score the try and celebrate. Ultimately that’s the basic lesson.” No frills here. No fuss.

Larmour didn’t exactly need the reminder either. Call up any videos of his tries to date online and the link in the chain, apart from his blinding pace and skills, is the speed and force with which the ball meets turf as soon as he crosses the whitewash.

Larmour may have the tricks to dazzle defenders and wow audiences but there isn’t an ounce of superfluousness to his game. He may produce masterpieces but every stroke of the brush has its purpose. There isn’t an iota of self-indulgence, no frippery, nothing in the way of excess.

An assiduous student of the game, Larmour didn’t need to see Burns being burned to bank that particular lesson. The memory of Wasps’ Willie le Roux being hobbled in the same manner by Jonathan Sexton at the Aviva two seasons ago had long been stored away.

“It’s never over till it’s over,” he said. “Just keep chasing everything back.”

Larmour strikes as a type of magpie who never ceases in the search for morsels that can feather his nest. This week’s trip to Toulouse, for example, prompted a recall of his first game in France, against Montpelier last season, when he leaned on Robbie Henshaw for guidance.

Other tidbits have been twigged by watching James Lowe on the opposite wing.

Larmour is hardly a slouch when it comes to creating and scoring himself. Three tries in his five games so far this season is a decent return with which he is more than happy but his Kiwi counterpart has now managed 16 in 18 games for the province.

“I started off better than last season anyway, but I still feel that there’s a lot more in me,” he reasoned. “I’m just trying to get my hands on the ball more really. Last week (against Wasps), for a good part of the game, I was just holding the width, but in the second half I got more width.

“Just seeing how (Lowe) works off his wing and how he integrates the forwards and backs, trying to see how he does things and seeing if I can add them into my own game. The biggest thing is trying to get my hands on the ball more and just offer in and around the ruck off nine or inside 10, outside ten, whatever it is.”

There is no sense of second-season syndrome with Larmour, or with Leinster as they attempt the near impossible in backing up a season in which they did an historic double. They appear to be locked into an equilibrium and unshakable focus as the season unfolds.

Brian O’Driscoll has already wondered aloud whether this team can eclipse his generation which claimed three Heineken Cups in four years. Lawrence Dallaglio compared facets of their play to that of the All Blacks in the wake of their destruction of Wasps.

“There’s a lot more in this team,” said Larmour. “We showed some parts of what we can do on Friday night, then other times we were quite vulnerable and we need to sort that out. Going through the review we picked out little details where we can get better.

“As backs: arranging the forwards quicker, getting into shape quicker, so once the ball’s there at the ruck we can play it straight away, we don’t have to organise things. Stuff like that. There’s a lot more in us and every game we need to keep building, keep getting better.

“Hopefully we can win the double again.”