Brian O'Driscoll: Jordan Larmour will benefit from his time with Ireland

Ireland legend Brian O’Driscoll has described Jordan Larmour as a “very exciting” talent but still “quite raw”, saying the young Leinster back will benefit from his time in the Ireland camp whether or not he gets any game time.

Larmour, 20, was the only uncapped player included in Joe Schmidt’s 36-man squad for the first two rounds of this year’s Six Nations, his call-up coming off the back of a fine autumn which has got the rugby world talking.

“He has played a lot of his rugby at 13 and now he is being asked to play at full-back,” O’Driscoll, who was capped 133 times, said. “You can see he is unsure positionally at times and his long-kicking game needs improvement.

“[But] he comes off both feet and has so much confidence with ball in hand. You want him to continue doing that but to evolve the rest of his game too. That will come in time. Whether he plays or not it is great he is getting exposure to the gameplan and standard of international training. He will be better for it.”

Chris Farrell and Bundee Aki, who recently made their debut in autumn internationals last year have also been included in the squad, but Sean O’Brien, Finlay Bealham, Jamie Heaslip, Rhys Ruddock, Tommy O’Donnell, Luke Marshall, Garry Ringrose, Jared Payne and Craig Gilroy all are sidelined with injuries.

Ireland Six Nations squad

ForwardsR Best (capt, Ulster), J Conan, S Cronin (both Leinster), U Dillane (Connacht), T Furlong, C Healy (both Leinster), I Henderson, R Herring (both Ulster), D Kilcoyne (Munster), D Leavy, J McGrath, J Murphy (all Leinster), P O’Mahony (Munster), A Porter (Leinster), Q Roux (Connacht), James Ryan (Leinster), John Ryan, CJ Stander (both Munster), D Toner, J Van der Flier (both Leinster).

Backs B Aki (Connacht), J Carbery (Leinster), A Conway, K Earls, C Farrell (all Munster), R Henshaw, R Kearney (both Leinster), I Keatley (Munster), J Larmour (Leinster), K Marmion (Connacht), F McFadden, L McGrath (both Leinster), C Murray (Munster), J Sexton (Leinster), R Scannell (Munster), J Stockdale (Ulster).