Larmour hungry for more after Ireland reintroduction
Following a frustrating spell of almost three years without an international cap, Jordan Larmour was thrilled to be back in the matchday reckoning for Ireland during the 2024 Six Nations.
While he did feature twice against the Maori All Blacks on the successful Tour of New Zealand in 2022, Larmour’s 63rd minute introduction against Italy in round two of the Championship at the Aviva Stadium last month was his first competitive Irish test appearance since a home encounter with Japan in July 2021.
Primarily deployed on the right wing for his province in recent times, Larmour came off the bench at outside centre in the Italian game and this initially looked set to be his sole outing in the latest edition of the Six Nations.
Yet the late withdrawal of Hugo Keenan through injury suddenly propelled the 26-year-old into the starting line-up at full-back for Ireland’s Championship clincher against Scotland on March 16 in the Aviva.
“Not playing for three years, sometimes you might be second-guessing yourself. Am I good enough, what do I need to do to get better and stuff like that. Those thoughts do creep into your head, but it’s important to stay as positive as possible,” Larmour acknowledged.
“I’ve massive ambitions as a rugby player, I still want to play for Ireland. Obviously, I know how hard that is to do, the amount of competition that’s there. The amount of good players we have, it’s something that I wanted to do for a few years now.
“I came off the bench against Italy, that was good to be back out there. When you get that taste for it, international rugby, you just want to keep playing because it is a bit different.”
Although the presence of Keenan, James Lowe and Jimmy O’Brien means he hasn’t always been guaranteed a back-three spot even when he was fit and available in the past couple of seasons, the absence of the latter duo for extended periods has helped Larmour to be a regular for Leinster in the current campaign.
Thus far in 2023/24, the former St Andrew’s College student has started 11 games for the Blues and scored six tries – including four in the pool stages of the European Champions Cup.
Leicester Tigers await them in the last-16 of that particular competition on Saturday week, but for now, Larmour is embracing the challenge of facing The Bulls in a top-of-the-table United Rugby Championship clash at the RDS this Friday.
“The body is feeling really good. Obviously, it’s a class team to be involved in as well, that helps, but I’ve been really enjoying it this season so far. It’s going to be a massive week this week with the Bulls,” Larmour added.
“I think there are four points between us, first playing second. Obviously what happened two seasons ago [the Bulls beat them in a URC semi-final], that’s something we are conscious of. We were watching a few clips this morning, to see where we can be better.”