"Yes," says Ian Madigan. The Leinster goal-kicker is talking about the loneliest place on the planet just behind the tee. All eyes are watching. All hearts are beating and all he has to do is what he does a thousand times in training. It's making a repeatable action? "Yes," he says.
Madigan has been the reason Leinster have been winning recently. He kicked all his penalties, six of the best, against Bath and the team won by three points. In recent matches it has become a place he enjoys more than he fears.
He has learned to control his emotions and looks at the task as a challenge he can beat more often than not. Embracing the ritual of kicking, knowing the importance of the outcome and that he’s always hero or villain. He wouldn’t have it any other way.
“When you’re playing in a knock-out game you know every point counts. So you stick to the process whether you’re behind in a game or you’re taking a kick at the start of the match or the end of a match.
“It’s still the same pressure on you. For me, it’s about going through the process regardless. You want to get any kick as badly as one that could win you a game to put you through to the semi-final of Europe. So, for me, it’s about sticking to that process.”
Important role
The try drought at Leinster has made the role even more important for results. The team have struggled to break defences down and release their backline, but they are also winning more penalties than most other sides.
While there is some comfort in knowing opponents are fouling and conceding penalties rather than allowing Leinster set up attacking opportunities, the pressure mounts on the kicker to reap the rewards.
“You can practise pressure kicks. There’s a few different ways of doing that. You can visualise yourself in the situation when you’re training.
"Another way is to have competition with other kickers by putting something small on the line. With professional sportspeople we're all so naturally competitive that even if you're playing for something as small as coffees or lunch the next morning you'll want to win just as badly as you'd want to win the quarter-final of the Champions Cup.
“When you’re standing over your fourth kick and the other guys have kicked three from four and you’ve got three and are kicking your fourth to win it . . .”
The main kickers are Madigan, Jimmy Gopperth and Fergus McFadden. "Fergus is a brilliant place-kicker. Really natural," he says. Rob Kearney sometimes rocks up for long-range kicks, 55 or 60 metres out and there are younger players coming through such as Cathal Marsh, who Madigan sees as making the step up early next season, when many of the team will be at the World Cup or recovering from it.
“He’s a guy who’s been playing really well for Leinster ‘A’ and when he gets his chance to step up to the senior team I think he’ll be ready to go,” he says of Marsh.
“We all know what he’s capable of with his running game, but he’s working really hard on his kicking. I’m sure we’ll see that come through in the coming games.”
More often practice is just Madigan with Gopperth and Richie Murphy for 80 minutes on a Wednesday in an empty RDS. “It’s similar to a golfer going to a driving range. And it’s a part of the week I really enjoy doing.”
Madigan has scored 171 points in the European Cup so far. Johnny Sexton has 458 points, David Humphreys 564 points and Ronan O’Gara 1365 points, hundreds ahead of his nearest rival Stephen Jones. They will all say between the posts is as much between the ears.
“You could have a really good technique but be mentally weak and not be able to get your body to perform what it’s good at,” he says. They [physical and mental] dove-tail. You could say it’s 50-50.”
