JORDAN LARMOUR’S CHRISTMAS wasn’t all that different to most of ours.
It consisted of “a lot of food”, “food comas” and “a few naps”. The one difference was that he could pass it off as “carb-loading” without completely fooling himself.
Larmour’s body absorbed worse abuse a few days after the big dinner, however – Munster proving too ravenous for their eastern rivals in Thomond Park and claiming the spoils from the fixture for the first time since 2016.
It was Leinster who wound up sticking a fork in themselves, to some extent. A first half in which they received three cards — one of them red — helped their hosts to build upon an early momentum earned with even numbers despite Larmour and co’s best efforts in the second stanza.
In that sense, Larmour’s first defeat to Munster was a sore one on two counts.
Energia, Official energy partner of Leinster Rugby, announces a multi-year partnership with Jordan Larmour. The agreement allows Energia to deliver its vision through their new campaign #ThePowerBehindLeinster, powering rugby from grassroots through to the European stage. Billy Stickland / INPHO
Billy Stickland / INPHO / INPHO
“There’s always a bit of niggle between Leinster and Munster in these big derby games,” he tells The42′s rugby podcast, Heineken Rugby Weekly. “We pride ourselves on our discipline and we let ourselves down at times throughout the game.
“Giving away that many penalties to a team like Munster — like, they’ll rip you apart.
“You know…” Larmour pauses, then tuts to himself. “We had a review on Monday and went through it to see where we can get better. There were a few key moments in the game that we didn’t get right, and we put ourselves on the back foot.”
Leinster’s atypical propensity on the day for “compounding errors” was the most striking takeaway from Monday’s sit-down, as well as one particular incident — still fresh in Larmour’s mind — during which Leinster could have made a clean exit but wound up conceding a penalty and, subsequently, a score.
“Those kind of errors that we made throughout the game didn’t help us. At the end of the day, they cost us.
It’s probably about channelling that emotion and not letting it overtake you and then affect your decision-making. There was times throughout that game where we probably didn’t keep a cool head; we give away penalties and they [Munster] grow into the game.
“Maybe just the passion that we had, and I suppose just being up for the game… You’re playing against players that you’re competing with [for international spots], so you want to play well. And maybe that had an influence on it.
It’s kind of weird playing against [international team-mates], because you play with them sometimes and you kind of know their style of play. Sometimes you might overthink that, or try to play differently, or try something new just to get one-up on them or something.
“But I think it’s important to do your own thing. Like, when you’re playing against them, you’re not thinking, ‘Oh, we’re friends,’” Larmour smiles. “You’re enemies. But then once the game is over, you can laugh and joke about it — you’re back to normal.
“But there is a rivalry between the two teams and you want to play better than your opposite number because you’re competing with him for an Ireland spot.”
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Tempers flare at Thomond. Dan Sheridan / INPHO
Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO
All in all, last Saturday was but a bump on a road which has seen Larmour burn his way into a position of potential stardom over the past 18 months: a phenomenal 2018 kicked off in earnest with his international debut — the highlight, as far as he’s concerned — and culminated some three trophies and 11 blistering senior tries later in his being nominated for World Rugby’s Breakthrough Player of the Year award.
In the greatest understatement of the new year to date, he describes that breakthrough as “pretty cool” and “good fun so far,” before reflecting upon it in greater detail — something which he hasn’t had much of a chance to do given the speed with which he has ascended to prominence in club and country colours.
“All through school, all I wanted to do was become a professional rugby player,” he says. Born in 1997, he’s of a generation where that makes sense.
The study and exams probably weren’t great because I was so focused on going to the gym and training after school and stuff. It was always a dream of mine to play for Ireland and Leinster, but I didn’t think it was going to happen as fast as it did.
“I don’t really know how it has happened so fast, actually. Maybe it’s just practising the skills, training hard and then once you get an opportunity, try and take it. It’s probably also [about] having the mindset of knowing there are better players out there and trying to get up to their level.
Like, when I came in [to the Leinster fold], I saw how lads prepared for games, and how much detail [was involved] in them going through all the video, you know? Because, like, when I was coming in, I wasn’t doing that. Now I am. You need to study your opposition and see the way the play, and why they play the way they do.
As it turns out, he’s well able to bury himself in the books, or an iPad at least.
“It’s needed at this level. For big games, you need to know your opposition inside out so you can come up with a gameplan to beat them.
When I’m getting ready for a game, I’m studying my opposite number, seeing what they like to do. It’s probably the same for everyone: anybody who’s playing against someone, they’re going to study them to see what they do differently; what foot they like to kick off, what foot they step off, what arm they carry in.
“Maybe now that there’s more footage of me, people are studying me more as well. But all I’m going to try and do is keep doing what I’m doing, keep trying to get better, and keep trying to play well.
“You’ve got to work on everything; I’d be practising my kicking, my high-ball work, my passing, my ruck clearouts, tackling.
“You might be in certain defensive situations, and if you make a mistake you’ll learn from that mistake, and next time you’ll do better.
“But you’re always going to be working on skills, no matter how senior you are — whether it’s your first cap or your 100th cap.”
Jordan Larmour has been hesitant to reflect too much on his last 18 months. Ryan Byrne / INPHO
Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO
He was just a couple of years removed from St. Andrew’s College when he first exploded onto the scene with his province, but he did so as part of an emerging Leinster crop for whom such severe baptisms of fire have become commonplace.
The seamlessness with which Leinster now move youngsters all the way through their ranks has seen the European champions become the envy of clubs at home and abroad, but Larmour doesn’t see this success as anything especially peculiar.
“I think if you’re good enough, you’re ready,” he says. “Scott Penny is 19 and he’s class! You’ve seen it in the games he’s played so far. I think he has two caps and two tries, so he’s going well at the moment.
But the coaches that the schools have now, the strength and conditioning coaches are great… Once you get into the sub-academy, the training ramps up again. And then, when you’re in the academy, you’re basically training with the senior team every day, so that’s going to keep pushing you to get better.
“If you’re good enough, you’re ready, like,” he repeats firmly. “They’ll give you a chance, they’ll give you an opportunity. It’s just about taking it.”
And it’s not as though he hasn’t noticed a marked difference between playing in the Leinster Schools Senior Cup and a Champions Cup final — he notes how, “if you carry the ball at senior and you don’t have two bullets either side, if someone gets in there it’s going to be a turnover. And it just happens in a split second.”
But what is ensured by Leo Cullen and his coaching staff is that Larmour and his young peers are conditioned — mentally as much as physically — to thrive in the heat of elite-level competition as soon as they’re handed the blue jersey.
“It’s probably the way we train,” Larmour muses. “We train really, really intensely. Sometimes it’s chaotic.
“We put ourselves under pressure so that we’re forced to make decisions under pressure. Especially on a Tuesday, we have our big defensive session. It could be 40 minutes non-stop, just doing whatever — touch, lift-touch, non-touch — but at an extremely high pace.
“The idea is that when we go into the game, then, at the weekend, making decisions under pressure comes easy to us.”
Larmour takes one to the house against Bath in the Heineken Champions Cup. Tommy Dickson / INPHO
Tommy Dickson / INPHO / INPHO
Excited for the year ahead, Larmour explains that with a glaring target on their backs, Leinster adopted the mindset at the start of the season to ‘attack’ the Pro14 and Heineken Champions Cup; they’re not defending their trophies, per se, but merely challenging for them once more.
In a feverishly anticipated year on the international front, meanwhile, he says Ireland’s players are looking forward to a Rugby World Cup for which they are expected to contend, but not quite yet “looking ahead” to it given the amount of rugby still to be played in green between now and Japan in September.
As far as Larmour sees it, Joe Schmidt’s men must first ‘attack’ the Six Nations, starting with the visit of England in a month’s time.
“I’d say that one will be a bit niggly as well,” he smiles.
Larmour is this week's guest on The42's 'Heineken Rugby Weekly' podcast. Billy Stickland / INPHO
Billy Stickland / INPHO / INPHO
You can hear more from Jordan Larmour on this week’s Heineken Rugby Weekly by The42, available on iTunes, Soundcloud and other podcast providers.
Energia, Official Energy Partner of Leinster Rugby, have announced a multi-year partnership with Jordan Larmour. The long-term agreement allows Energia to deliver its vision through their new campaign #ThePowerBehindLeinster, powering rugby from grassroots through to the European stage.
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'If you're good enough, you're ready. They'll give you a chance - it's just about taking it'
JORDAN LARMOUR’S CHRISTMAS wasn’t all that different to most of ours.
It consisted of “a lot of food”, “food comas” and “a few naps”. The one difference was that he could pass it off as “carb-loading” without completely fooling himself.
Larmour’s body absorbed worse abuse a few days after the big dinner, however – Munster proving too ravenous for their eastern rivals in Thomond Park and claiming the spoils from the fixture for the first time since 2016.
It was Leinster who wound up sticking a fork in themselves, to some extent. A first half in which they received three cards — one of them red — helped their hosts to build upon an early momentum earned with even numbers despite Larmour and co’s best efforts in the second stanza.
In that sense, Larmour’s first defeat to Munster was a sore one on two counts.
“There’s always a bit of niggle between Leinster and Munster in these big derby games,” he tells The42′s rugby podcast, Heineken Rugby Weekly. “We pride ourselves on our discipline and we let ourselves down at times throughout the game.
“Giving away that many penalties to a team like Munster — like, they’ll rip you apart.
“You know…” Larmour pauses, then tuts to himself. “We had a review on Monday and went through it to see where we can get better. There were a few key moments in the game that we didn’t get right, and we put ourselves on the back foot.”
Leinster’s atypical propensity on the day for “compounding errors” was the most striking takeaway from Monday’s sit-down, as well as one particular incident — still fresh in Larmour’s mind — during which Leinster could have made a clean exit but wound up conceding a penalty and, subsequently, a score.
“Those kind of errors that we made throughout the game didn’t help us. At the end of the day, they cost us.
“Maybe just the passion that we had, and I suppose just being up for the game… You’re playing against players that you’re competing with [for international spots], so you want to play well. And maybe that had an influence on it.
“But I think it’s important to do your own thing. Like, when you’re playing against them, you’re not thinking, ‘Oh, we’re friends,’” Larmour smiles. “You’re enemies. But then once the game is over, you can laugh and joke about it — you’re back to normal.
“But there is a rivalry between the two teams and you want to play better than your opposite number because you’re competing with him for an Ireland spot.”
All in all, last Saturday was but a bump on a road which has seen Larmour burn his way into a position of potential stardom over the past 18 months: a phenomenal 2018 kicked off in earnest with his international debut — the highlight, as far as he’s concerned — and culminated some three trophies and 11 blistering senior tries later in his being nominated for World Rugby’s Breakthrough Player of the Year award.
In the greatest understatement of the new year to date, he describes that breakthrough as “pretty cool” and “good fun so far,” before reflecting upon it in greater detail — something which he hasn’t had much of a chance to do given the speed with which he has ascended to prominence in club and country colours.
“All through school, all I wanted to do was become a professional rugby player,” he says. Born in 1997, he’s of a generation where that makes sense.
“I don’t really know how it has happened so fast, actually. Maybe it’s just practising the skills, training hard and then once you get an opportunity, try and take it. It’s probably also [about] having the mindset of knowing there are better players out there and trying to get up to their level.
As it turns out, he’s well able to bury himself in the books, or an iPad at least.
“It’s needed at this level. For big games, you need to know your opposition inside out so you can come up with a gameplan to beat them.
“Maybe now that there’s more footage of me, people are studying me more as well. But all I’m going to try and do is keep doing what I’m doing, keep trying to get better, and keep trying to play well.
“You’ve got to work on everything; I’d be practising my kicking, my high-ball work, my passing, my ruck clearouts, tackling.
“You might be in certain defensive situations, and if you make a mistake you’ll learn from that mistake, and next time you’ll do better.
“But you’re always going to be working on skills, no matter how senior you are — whether it’s your first cap or your 100th cap.”
He was just a couple of years removed from St. Andrew’s College when he first exploded onto the scene with his province, but he did so as part of an emerging Leinster crop for whom such severe baptisms of fire have become commonplace.
The seamlessness with which Leinster now move youngsters all the way through their ranks has seen the European champions become the envy of clubs at home and abroad, but Larmour doesn’t see this success as anything especially peculiar.
“I think if you’re good enough, you’re ready,” he says. “Scott Penny is 19 and he’s class! You’ve seen it in the games he’s played so far. I think he has two caps and two tries, so he’s going well at the moment.
“If you’re good enough, you’re ready, like,” he repeats firmly. “They’ll give you a chance, they’ll give you an opportunity. It’s just about taking it.”
And it’s not as though he hasn’t noticed a marked difference between playing in the Leinster Schools Senior Cup and a Champions Cup final — he notes how, “if you carry the ball at senior and you don’t have two bullets either side, if someone gets in there it’s going to be a turnover. And it just happens in a split second.”
But what is ensured by Leo Cullen and his coaching staff is that Larmour and his young peers are conditioned — mentally as much as physically — to thrive in the heat of elite-level competition as soon as they’re handed the blue jersey.
“It’s probably the way we train,” Larmour muses. “We train really, really intensely. Sometimes it’s chaotic.
“We put ourselves under pressure so that we’re forced to make decisions under pressure. Especially on a Tuesday, we have our big defensive session. It could be 40 minutes non-stop, just doing whatever — touch, lift-touch, non-touch — but at an extremely high pace.
“The idea is that when we go into the game, then, at the weekend, making decisions under pressure comes easy to us.”
Excited for the year ahead, Larmour explains that with a glaring target on their backs, Leinster adopted the mindset at the start of the season to ‘attack’ the Pro14 and Heineken Champions Cup; they’re not defending their trophies, per se, but merely challenging for them once more.
In a feverishly anticipated year on the international front, meanwhile, he says Ireland’s players are looking forward to a Rugby World Cup for which they are expected to contend, but not quite yet “looking ahead” to it given the amount of rugby still to be played in green between now and Japan in September.
As far as Larmour sees it, Joe Schmidt’s men must first ‘attack’ the Six Nations, starting with the visit of England in a month’s time.
“I’d say that one will be a bit niggly as well,” he smiles.
You can hear more from Jordan Larmour on this week’s Heineken Rugby Weekly by The42, available on iTunes, Soundcloud and other podcast providers.
Energia, Official Energy Partner of Leinster Rugby, have announced a multi-year partnership with Jordan Larmour. The long-term agreement allows Energia to deliver its vision through their new campaign #ThePowerBehindLeinster, powering rugby from grassroots through to the European stage.
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