Former Ireland captain Brian O’Driscoll hopes Jordan Larmour is included in the starting XV to face Italy in the Six Nations.
The in-form 20-year-old has been rewarded with a place in the Ireland squad. He failed to get a place in the match-day squad for the opening victory over France.
Larmour has been in flying form for Leinster scoring six tries in 14 appearances in the Champions Cup and Guinness Pro 14.
O’Driscoll believes the Italy match is the perfect way to acclimatise him to international test rugby:
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/Xo7l_AHJFqA" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>
“I don’t know where he starts, I think he should start him on the wing, there’s more protection there.
“You wont see the best of his attacking play because you need that in counter attack when the ball is kicked down t him.
“Jacob Stockdale has not done a whole lot wrong, he didn’t have his best game ever, he had that moment with the Teddy Thomas try but he was relatively quiet.
“Rob Kearney had a good first 30 minutes then a couple of errors, does he give them another go against Italy or does he get brave and put Jordan Larmour in?
“I think it’s a good game to put him in personally, if Joe Schmidt wants to see him in that World Cup squad in Japan 2019 I think this is a good game to start with.
“There’s a protection with this, if we’re not beating Italy reasonably comfortably at home with this calibre of team we’ve got to look at ourselves, what are we going to do at a World Cup?
“I think its a good chance to play Jordan now.”
