Glasgow were smart enough in trying to keep the ball away from Jordan Larmour, when possible, at the weekend.
Sometimes, though, they were forced to punt the ball up-field in an effort to relieve pressure. Teams are quickly learning that giving Larmour that sort of time and space to build up momentum is not necessarily a good idea.
Larmour, who was denied a second half try after a pass veered forward off Isa Nacewa, cut Glasgow apart [see below] with a lovely run, faked pass and eventual pass to James Lowe. He then ran a great support line but Lowe was brought to ground without offloading and Luke McGrath found Scott Fardy to do the rest from a couple of yards out.
While Fardy, Lowe and Isa Nacewa did the most damage to Warriors, Larmour looked very good in his first Champions Cup start for Leinster. It was just his 13th appearance for Leinster’s senior squad and the 20-year-old, still on an academy contract, is set for an even greater challenge in February and March.
Much like Joe Schmidt did with the likes of Jacob Stockdale, James Ryan and Andrew Porter, the Ireland coach is set to reward youthful promise and form with an Ireland call-up.
Schmidt names his initial Six Nations squad on Wednesday and Larmour is expected to be the one uncapped player included. Tadhg Beirne is another player on a sensational run of form but Schmidt appears content to leave the Scarlets lock until later this year – he may travel to Australia this summer, all going well.
The make-up of the squad, which will go into training in late January for the two opening championship games, will be similar to the Guinness Series squad that went 3-0 last November. The men that will miss out, this time around, are the injured Sean O’Brien, Rhys Ruddock, Tommy O’Donnell, James Tracy and Adam Byrne.
Added to that, Garry Ringrose looks set to miss the opening games as well as Luke Marshall while Jared Payne and Jamie Heaslip have respective, long-term health and injury issues. Tommy Bowe, who will retire at the end of the season, is also set to miss out.
OUR SIX NATIONS SQUAD (37 players)
Loose-heads: Cian Healy, Jack McGrath, Dave Kilcoyne
Hookers: Rory Best, Sean Cronin, Rob Herring
Tight-heads: Tadhg Furlong, Andrew Porter, John Ryan
Second row: Iain Henderson, Devin Toner, James Ryan, Ultan Dillane, Kieran Treadwell
Back row: Peter O’Mahony, CJ Stander, Josh van der Flier, Dan Leavy, Jack Conan, Jordi Murphy
Scrum-half: Conor Murray, Luke McGrath, John Cooney
Out-half: Johnny Sexton, Ian Keatley, Joey Carbery
Centres: Robbie Henshaw, Bundee Aki, Chris Farrell, Stuart McCloskey
Back three: Rob Kearney, Jordan Larmour, Andrew Conway, Keith Earls, Jacob Stockdale, Darren Sweetnam, Fergus McFadden
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