With an impressive tally of 225 points from 18 games at provincial level, the 2014/15 campaign has certainly been a productive one for Ian Madigan.

Jonathan Sexton’s return to the Leinster squad may well restrict his kicking duties next season, but courtesy of six successful penalties against Bath in the Champions Cup last Saturday, he has helped the Blues to book their place in the final-four of the revamped competition.

He was, perhaps, aided by the fact that Matt O’Connor’s charges were already in the ascendancy when he negotiated the majority of his kicks, but speaking at Old Wesley RFC yesterday (where he was launching the Bank of Ireland Leinster Rugby Summer Camps, along with Rob Kearney and Fergus McFadden), Madigan revealed that he maintains the same kicking process regardless of the circumstances.

“I think when you’re playing in a knockout game, you know every point counts, so, you just 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,” Madigan said. It’s still the same pressure on you, and for me it’s about going through the same process regardless of whether you’re kicking a kick at the end of a game in a league match or you’re 14 points up.”

In terms of the preparation that Madigan goes through in the build-up to a game, it has proven beneficial to have New Zealand native Jimmy Gopperth and rising Leinster ‘A’ star Cathal Marsh alongside him on the training ground.

“The main people I kick with would be Jimmy, obviously, who is a very good place-kicker. Fergus [McFadden] is a brilliant place-kicker. Really natural. He wouldn’t come out every week, but he’d be out most weeks practising.

“With the younger guys coming through, Cathal Marsh is the only lad I work with on place-kicking. He’s really ready to make the step-up. His window of opportunity will probably come at the start of next season.

“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.”

Before they can concentrate on their European Rugby Champions Cup date with Toulon in Marseille on Sunday, April 19, Leinster will need to maintain their winning form against Newport Gwent Dragons in the Guinness Pro12 on Sunday afternoon.

Winger Fergus McFadden is currently working through the return-to-play protocols, following a head injury he sustained in a collision with Bath’s Kyle Eastmond. While the Toulon game seems like a more realistic target, he hasn’t ruled himself out for this weekend just yet.

“Yeah, I’m just going through the return-to-play protocols. I’ve been taking it pretty easy for the last few days, so I’ve a few boxes to tick if I’m going to come into consideration for this weekend. We’ll see how the week pans out for me,” McFadden said.

He confirmed that the collision knocked him out, but he was also quick to dismiss any level of intent on Eastmond’s part.

“Yeah I was out cold. He caught me flush on the jaw with his shoulder. Kyle Eastmond is quite small. Technically, it was a high hit, but I was ducking into him as well, but, in fairness to him, there was no malice in it. Looking back on the footage, in fairness he came back up to me to make sure I was okay. It was one of those unfortunate things. Pity for me I had to go off so early.”

As well as highlighting the concern shown by Bath’s Matt Banahan at the time of the incident, McFadden also praised the Leinster medics, who made sure that he was withdrawn from the action as quickly as possible.

“The good thing was the medics came on straight away and tried to take me off. I suppose, sometimes in those scenarios, you’re thinking ‘ah stay on, you’ll be fine’.Then, another knock and you can be twice as bad. Thankfully, the medics were on me straight away and everyone realised I had to be taken off for my own safety,” McFadden said.

The Dragons, for their part, are looking forward to a European Rugby Challenge Cup against Edinburgh after their date with Leinster.

Centre Jack Dixon said: “We just have to knuckle down for Leinster before the semi-final. We are improving week-on-week and our confidence is right up there.

“The win against Cardiff Blues [in the Rugby Challenge Cup quarter-final] is a massive boost to the players and the club and we’ve had some great wins over the last couple of weeks. It was a great experience for the boys and we enjoyed the pressure game. Now, we are quietly confident for the semi-final, because we are in a good position as a team at the moment and believe we can push on to the final.”

While Leinster may have to travel to France to face Toulon, they have been designated the ‘home’ team for their semi-final clash in Marseille. Following the draw made by competition organiser EPRC, Toulon will be considered the ‘visiting’ team and will use the visitors’ dressing room. English Premiership side Saracens will be the home team when they meet Clermont in Saint-Etienne in their semi-final.