Ireland captain Rory Best is confident that Jordan Larmour is more than ready to make the step up to Test rugby. The Leinster back 3 player is in line to win his first cap from the bench against Italy in the Six Nations tomorrow.
Speaking after his captain's run at the AVIVA Stadium, Best revealed that the 20-year-old has been settling in well with the squad.
“The way he is around the place, he isn’t someone who strikes you as getting too uptight about things. The flip side of that, he gets very little wrong in training.“To come in like that so young and into such a pressurised environment that we try to create, to be able to do that speaks volumes about his character.
“The last point on that is that if you want to see how someone’s going to react in a pressurised environment, European Cup is massive but the next step is the inter-pros. Look at the way he performed against Munster in Thomond Park and Leinster apparently resting their big guns.
“The way he played against them and then against us in the RDS, it speaks volumes for him as a player and him as a person.”
Jordan Larmour training at the AVIVA Stadium / ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan
Best feels Larmour has earned his chance after an impressive start to the season at club level.
“Just to see him in training and the change of pace he has even in a walk-through, which sounds ridiculous, but he is a very, very exciting talent.
“It’s a massive day for him, to get your debut is something that every young rugby player in Ireland dreams of, pulling on that green jersey. For him to do it for the first time, and to do it in the manner he’s played this season, he is massively deserving of being in the squad.
Former Ireland flanker Alan Quinlan previewed this weekend's matches on OTB AM
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