JAMES LOWE has hailed ‘unpredictable’ colleague Jordan Larmour for evolving his all-round game.

The Ireland and Leinster back ended a near three-year international exile with a cameo appearance against Italy in the second round of the Six Nations in February.

And an injury to Blues colleague Hugo Keenan saw Larmour start at full-back against Scotland as Andy Farrell’s men claimed Championship glory.

Before the Six Nations, his last appearance came against Japan in front of a Covid-restricted attendance in 2021, when he was forced off through injury.

While injuries played their part since, the Dubliner found it tough to dislodge some top-quality competitors from the back three — including Lowe — at Leinster and Ireland.

But Larmour started at No  15 for Leinster’s URC win over The Bulls last Friday and could be in line to figure against Leicester Tigers in the Champions Cup last 16 on Saturday if Keenan (hip) does not regain full fitness.

And Lowe admitted: “He’s annoying to play with because you never know what he’s going to do. I don’t think he knows!

“When you’re playing with Robot Hugo in the back field you know exactly what he is going to do — all the right things. He’s pretty straight up and down.

“Playing with Jordo is fun because you know he is going to try and get his arms free, he is going to step and move and he has really developed his linking game.

“Two years ago you’d almost think he’d do too much. He’d do all the hard work and then miss the easy pass, but now he’s doing that and putting others away.

“He has come a long way and defensively he is getting better. It is tough at full-back. He has to go side to side, especially in this defensive system.”

Saturday’s showdown with Leicester at the Aviva Stadium is Leinster’s first knockout game of 2024 and Lowe hopes it will be the start of a profitable period for the Blues, having lost European finals in 2019, 2022 and 2023.

The New Zealand-born wing said: “We’re coming into the important end of the season. We have been in this position before and come up short.

“I’ve lost three finals at Champions Cup level, so that’s a pretty s**t stat. It’s one game at a time.

“We’ve a very tough ask against Leicester but we’ve put ourselves in a good position to deliver a performance.”