BEING A TOP class goal kicker in rugby must be quite an isolating experience. On the one hand, you have 14 guys to help you get a win, but when you are standing over the kicking tee, there is only one person who will ultimately be judged.
Despite the All Blacks going the length of the field to deny Ireland a famous win last year, many point to Johnny Sexton’s missed kick minutes earlier as when the game was lost.
Ian Madigan’s kicking is one of the main reasons that Leinster are still alive in the Champions Cup this year – his boot brought the only points in the away win against Castres and in the bonus point loss at the Stoop.
Madigan says there are three people who he can rely on to prepare him for the high-pressure situations that he regularly finds himself in.
“Someone like Eoin Reddan has been a real mentor for me,” Madigan said.
“He has given me some great feedback and criticisms to work on. I’ve worked with Richie Murphy [Leinster skills coach] since I was 16 and he is someone who knows me inside out. I do a lot of work with the sports psychologist Enda McNulty. Similarly to Richie, I’ve worked with Enda since I was 16 or 17. I have a bank of experience there and I feel that I can speak my mind with full confidence and he can give me tools in games to deal with the pressure.”
Leinster top the try-scoring table in the Pro12 but haven’t scored a five-pointer in their last two games against Harlequins and the Ospreys, nor did they get over the line in their second most recent Champions Cup game against Castres.
A few years ago, the thought of Leinster going two straight European Cup games without a try would have been unthinkable and there is real pressure on the backline to play more incisively against Harlequins at the Aviva on Saturday.
Despite the recent absence of tries, Madigan saw positives in attack at The Stoop that he hopes to act on this weekend.
“The few times we got good attacking play together they were quite cynical and stopped our momentum by giving away penalties and that effected our flow,” Madigan said.
“You can look at the last two games and say Leinster haven’t scored a try in either game but we would more review our attack as a whole and we know we our very close at times. We’ve been one ruck or one pass away from scoring a try. When we get the simple things right we can put together a good performance.”
Under Joe Schmidt, the Aviva Stadium was (wait for the cliche) a fortress. Clermont slayed Leinster there in Schmidt’s last year and Matt O’Connor’s men lost to Northampton in last season’s Heineken Cup.
Madigan says that the players have been reminding themselves of their recent woes at the Aviva this week, and are determined to put on a show for their supporters in dispatching Quins.
“There has been an acknowledgement for the players this week that the last two games Leinster have played in the Aviva, we’ve lost both of them,” Madigan said.
“In fairness to the supporters, they’ve been brilliant and I think there is going to be over 40,000 at the game this weekend. There is a huge onus to win this weekend. It is coming up to Christmas and people are under pressure money-wise but they are still ponying up the money to come and support us. We need to show some gratitude for that.”
