Jordan Lamour hat-trick earns rave reviews from Ireland and Italy camps
Jordan Larmour stole the show with a hat-trick of tries as Ireland hammered Italy at Soldier Field and earned rave reviews from both camps, with Conor O’Shea likening him to a young Christian Cullen.
The 21-year-old, making his first start for Ireland after six appearances off the bench, led the charge with three of his side’s eight tries in a crushing 54-7 victory over their Six Nations rivals.
Larmour had made a try for scrum-half Luke McGrath in the first half with a great linebreak as a young Ireland side took a 14-7 half-time lead. Then the full-back helped open up a convincing lead just after half-time as the Irish increased the tempo to put the game beyond O’Shea’s Azzurri.
His first came in the 46th minute and then, having switched to the left wing, Larmour followed up with two great finishes in the 63rd and 80th, the latter a dazzling solo effort that left Italian defenders for dead.
It was a performance that brought memories of All Blacks legend Christian Cullen to mind for Italy’s director of rugby O’Shea, a predecessor of Larmour’s in the Ireland No.15 jersey.
“He can run. We know he can run. We all know that,” O’Shea said. “He does remind you of a young Christian Cullen in what he can do, and I’m sure there’s areas of his game that he knows he needs to work on as well but if you give someone space, and you give someone time, with his ability, it’s going to cost you. And we did.”
Simply sensational performance from MOTM Jordan Larmour 👊👊👊 #IREvITA pic.twitter.com/aHX2Vl1ofw
— eir Sport (@eirSport) November 3, 2018
Ireland captain and Leinster team-mate Rhys Ruddock described Larmour as a player you would much rather play alongside than against.
“It's unbelievably exciting,” Ruddock said. “Every time he gets the ball, he's looking for opportunities. It's just hard to keep up with him at times as a back row, we need to be on his shoulder to support him, but luckily today he didn't need too much help when he got those opportunities.
“He's a quality player and it's good to have him in your team.”
Ireland head coach Schmidt said he was satisfied with the work of his back three with wings Jacob Stockdale and Andrew Conway starting alongside full-back Larmour but acknowledged that the player nominated last week for World Rugby’s Breakthrough player of the year had the potential to change what Ireland can do in attack.
“He certainly did today.,” Schmidt said. “I thought Jacob started really strongly as well and looked dangerous. Andrew Conway probably didn't get as many chances but Jordan managed to get on the ball a number of times.
“The way he set up Luke McGrath for his try in the first half. I think John Cooney was looking for one right at the end, he chased him all the way but he didn't require him.
“I do think it was a pretty spectacular effort from Jordan and he'll be delighted with that. The first ball he took in the air was good as well. There's a few positional things that he's still working on and we wanted to spread his time across 15 and the wing. We know he can slot in at 13 as well.”
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