Larmour wary of Sharks’ inside bite as he focuses on impressing Farrell
Before Leinster’s Jordan Larmour goes into battle against the Cell C Sharks at the RDS on Saturday in the United Rugby Championship, he will be greeted by a familiar face in the opposition corner.
A native of O’Callaghan’s Mills in East Clare, Noel McNamara is currently enjoying his second season as backs and attack coach of the Sharks. In addition to leading the Ireland U20s to a Grand Slam title in 2019, McNamara previously worked for Leinster Rugby in a variety of roles.
Larmour and his fellow St Andrew’s College alum Andrew Porter were coached by the University of Limerick graduate at underage level and he expects McNamara to have the Durban men up to speed with the finer details of their play.
“I had him at under-18s. Me and Porter both had him. 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. I’m sure he’ll be filling all the Sharks boys in on what we like to do. It’s just going to add to the challenge, but it’s exciting at the same time,” Larmour acknowledged.
Yet while McNamara might well have the inside track on Leinster, Larmour doesn’t believe it is necessary to deviate from the patterns of play that have become the norm under Leo Cullen and Stuart Lancaster.
“You never really want to go away from the basics of the game because that’s what wins the majority of the time,” he added. “Set-piece dominance, playing in the right parts of the field, doing the basics well. I don’t think we’d ever deviate away from anything like that.
“They’ll be a tough team to beat, but we’re not over-thinking about Noel filling them in on whatever. We’re kind of just focusing on ourselves and trying to bring the best out of ourselves.”
Despite having 30 senior caps to his name at the age of 25, Larmour has endured considerable frustration on the international scene in recent times. Due to a combination of injury and lack of selection, the Dubliner hasn’t featured in a full test match for Ireland since March 2021.
He played both midweek games against the Māori All Blacks on the summer tour of New Zealand, but missed out on the match day squad for all three tests in their historic series win over the southern hemisphere powerhouses.
Larmour very much remains in the thoughts of Ireland head coach Andy Farrell, however, and is hoping the four games Leinster have between now and the start of the November internationals can help him to force his way back up the pecking order.
“I think it’s a professional sport and you’ve got to be putting your hand up if you want to get picked for the national team,” Larmour added. “You have to play well and show what you’re about. When it comes down to it you’ve got to be playing better than other lads to get ahead of them.”