Murray Kinsella reports from Cardiff
IAN MADIGAN HAS never lacked confidence in his rugby ability, to the extent that he has overrated himself at certain points.
“I’d have big self belief, although there have definitely been times in my career when I’ve thought I’m better than I actually was,” the 26-year-old told us last season.
Perhaps there was a cocksure edge to Madigan’s belief in himself in younger years, a slight overconfidence that was viewed as arrogance in the Blackrock College schoolboy. The infamous missed kick in front of the posts against Kilkenny College in the 2007 Leinster Schools Senior Cup was one humbling moment.
Madigan was already working with Enda McNulty at that point. McNulty is famous as the sports psychologist to Ireland’s rugby stars, a former All-Ireland-winning footballer with Armagh and a master in his field.
The pair originally met when Madigan was with a Leinster U17 squad, and McNulty has been a key part of the out-half’s approach to his profession ever since.
The confidence side of things, I view it as a skill and it’s definitely something that I work on,” said Madigan of their relationship. “I do a lot of work with Enda, I’d see him once a month minimum.
“Whether things are going well or badly for me, I’d still make sure I’m working on small things, like how to deal with mistakes in a game or dealing with the pressure of a big match.
“He’s given me tools for each of those kind of things, and as a result I get a huge amount of confidence from that.”
McNulty has been around the Ireland squad at this World Cup, sitting down with Jordi Murphy to discuss the challenge of replacing Peter O’Mahony, helping the wings with visualisation work before winning high ball, and stoking Madigan’s confidence.
Of course, McNulty himself would accept that he is far from the only factor in Madigan’s belief. His parents Michael and Maria, his older brother Dave, there are many pieces in the jigsaw.
The emotion he showed after last weekend, when he saw his parents in the stand, underlines how much he appreciates all they have done for him.
The point is that Madigan will feel he is ready to dominate tomorrow’s World Cup quarter-final against Argentina. Forget about Johnny Sexton, Madigan might say to himself, I’m here to take care of business.
The mental side of the game hasn’t been an issue for Madigan before, he has just needed opportunities to show that he has the skillset to match. Now he gets one in a World Cup quarter-final.
There has been ample opportunity for Madigan to doubt himself in the last two seasons, particularly with now departed Leinster coach Matt O’Connor having vocalised his concerns over Madigan’s ability to control games from the out-half position.
While Madigan now needs to repeat it, his showing off the bench against France last weekend made us question afresh why O’Connor didn’t fully put faith in the Dublin man as his first-choice out-half.
There have been poor performances at 10 for Leinster by Madigan, of course there have, but his ongoing good form in Ireland colours shows the true value of a player being fully backed by their head coach.
Even when preferring Ian Keatley to start against Italy in this year’s Six Nations, Schmidt never went on the record with doubts about Madigan. Instead, the Kiwi coach kept providing feedback to Madigan, kept insisting he could get better.
Another Schmidt masterstroke, we can say in hindsight, was starting Madigan in the Romania game. The out-half himself might admit that it wasn’t his most polished performance ever, but the game time put him in the perfect place to make an impact against France.
Madigan’s excellent goal-kicking record is a vital part of what he brings to this Ireland team. With 12 from 15 so far at this World Cup, Madigan is the eighth best kicker at this tournament, according to the accurate rankings of goalkickers.co.za.
Those rankings take into account the difficulty of each place kick. The numbers back up the impression that Madigan will provide for Ireland off the tee.
His kicking from hand has been one key ‘work-on’ in the past, with Schmidt driving Madigan hard in that area, but there has been improvement there certainly. One kick directly into touch against the French aside, he showed some superb touches with the boot.
The perfectly-executed chip over France’s onrushing defence in the first half was impressive.
Physically, Madigan has never shirked his duties with Leinster and Ireland. He only hit four rucks last weekend in Cardiff, but three of those efforts were highly impactful. His tackling, meanwhile, was aggressive and effective against the likes of Mathieu Bastareaud.
Perhaps the biggest challenge for Madigan is calling the plays out on the pitch, a duty usually commanded by Sexton and Paul O’Connell. There will be instructions coming from Schmidt above in the stands, but Madigan must be decisive and his teammates must fully back every single call.
Distribution will be important against the Pumas, given their susceptibility in the wide channels on multi-phase play and their inclination to bite down on loop plays in midfield, but again Madigan is strong in that area.
He has learned that power is not always needed in every pass, particularly to forward runners moving at pace. The manner in which his intercept pass against Toulon last season has been forgotten about shows that mental strength again; Madigan will still look to fire the same pass if he feels it is on.
Coming into this World Cup, the feeling was that any injury to Sexton or O’Connell would spell an end to Ireland’s hopes, but Madigan will be confident he can fill the void and make the 10 shirt his own.
He will feel that this moment has always been coming.
