Champions Cup: Ian Madigan knows it’s ‘boom or bust’ for Leinster

One of the few crumbs of comfort for Leinster in their defeat to Harlequins last Sunday was the sight of Luke Fitzgerald not only completing his third match of the season but, given his lack of match practice, looking as sharp and fit as he did.

Hence, the expectation is that Fitzgerald will start next Saturday's game against Harlequins at the Aviva where he finished last Sunday's at the Stoop, and be paired with Ian Madigan in a new-look midfield as Matt O'Connor strives to restore Leinster's potency after successive tryless performances in the Champions Cup.

It is also expected that Isaac Boss will start ahead of Eoin Reddan at nine, while Dominic Ryan is "fine and ready to play this weekend" according to assistant coach Richie Murphy.

The loss to Harlequins has upped the ante for Leinster in the return meeting, and as Madigan acknowledged yesterday, the pressure is now on them to win if they are to stay alive in the re-jigged competition.

“There is massive pressure this weekend,” said Madigan. “All the chips are across the line. It’s boom or bust this week. We know that as players. Aside from the group and having to take control of the group, the last two times Leinster have played in the Aviva we’ve lost,” he added, in reference to the defeats to Clermont and Northampton in the corresponding pre-Christmas home fixtures.

Support

“In fairness to the supporters and especially in the lead-up to Christmas they’re showing their support again. There are going to be over 40,000 people at this game at the weekend. There is a big acknowledgement from the players that we have to perform this week, not just for ourselves but for the supporters and to show gratitude for that.”

Madigan revealed Leinster “are trying to play slightly wider. For that to happen we need to be more accurate at the ruck. Our passing quality needs to be slightly better. If those two things don’t happen it means the guys in the wider channel have more pressure on them, less time on the ball and it happened three or four times in the wide channels last week where it didn’t click.

“It wasn’t those guys’ fault, the responsibility goes to the team. The higher quality ball that we get for the team, the better for them – they will have more time on the ball.”

Madigan also defended both O'Connor and Jimmy Gopperth, the duo who have felt the brunt of the criticism for Leinster's performances of late. "Look, it's been tough on him the last week. Himself, and Jimmy as well, have copped unfair criticism. Jimmy is playing a lot better than he is made out to be. Matt is a quality coach. There is full confidence in him from the team. He formulates a strategy each week depending on what players he has playing for him and on who he is playing against."

“The game plan is designed to make our players look better and to find holes in the team that we are playing against. He does that brilliantly. It is very clear for players going into a game. I know exactly what I am doing and where their weaknesses are and where our strengths are. It’s just about me going out and executing that and, as a group, we haven’t been able to do that for him.”

Successive games without a try, and successive European games without a try, are in stark contrast to this point a year ago, when Leinster were coming off the back of a five-try bonus-point win in Northampton.

Try-scoring

“On the try-scoring thing, that is one part of the attack. When we are reviewing games we are going through our whole attacking performance and we know that we are only a few per cent off. It’s about passes sticking, getting the ruck right. We feel if we do that it will have a massive knock-on effect to our performance. There were times in that game where I felt ‘Jeez, we are close to being very, very good here’.

“You can feel the energy as a player and I certainly think that that big performance is just around the corner for us.”

Another source of comfort to Leinster has been Madigan’s goalkicking. “His goal-kicking has been incredible. I think he’s at 89% for the season which is a massive stat for us,” said assistant coach Richie Murphy, who added: “A lot of responsibility comes down onto his shoulders because we’re not scoring as many tries. One of the other reasons we mightn’t be scoring as many tries is because we know we’re going to get three.”

Ironically, despite rarely starting in his favoured outhalf slot, such has been the greater regularity of his game time that Madigan admitted: “It’s probably been my most enjoyable year as a professional. I’m probably spending slightly more time in the video room, slightly more time with the physios or the masseuses just making sure I’m getting my body right because I’m playing more games than I ever have before.

“On the mental side of things, like I referred to on the kicking, I’m doing a lot of work with Enda McNulty on how I prepare for games and my time-management outside of Leinster, not just focussing on rugby. It’s been a very enjoyable year so far and for me it’s a week-to-week focus.”