Madigan: Leinster looking 'to improve' on demolition of Saints

Ian Madigan knows Leinster must not take any level of complacency into their return Heineken Cup fixture with Northampton at the Aviva Stadium this weekend.

Madigan and his team mates dished out a European master class performance against the Saints on a scoreline of 40-7 at Franklins Gardens at the weekend, the Premiership side’s second loss in Pool 1.

He played 80 minutes, kicking five conversions, and he says he fully expects an emotional backlash.

Madigan said: "They are still very much in this competition, they are a team that have great pride and they will be looking to get that back for themselves and the supporters.

"We saw last year that when Ulster went over there and beat them, in the return fixture Northampton pulled out a great performance and beat them in Ravenhill, we are very wary of them and we just have make sure history doesn’t repeat itself on that front."

Saturday’s performance reassured supporters that, even though there is a relatively new head coach at Leinster following Joe Schmidt’s departure, the classy brand of rugby that Schmidt brought to the province remains under Matt O’Connor.

The question has to be asked though, how do Leinster follow up on their performance in Franklins Gardens? Madigan says there is always room for improvement and that’s how the squad sees it, despite the score on Saturday.

He said: "The challenge for us this week is to improve on last week regardless of the result we look to do that week on week.

"We will review the performance and look for areas to improve on, we know we played well at the weekend but we know that Northampton are going to come over and really challenge us this weekend."

Ian has been getting used to playing in the Aviva Stadium lately, he of course came off the bench in the heart breaking loss to New Zealand and has a few more international caps to his name at the Lansdowne Road venue, and he says it’s a special place to play.

"Whether you are playing there with Ireland or with Leinster, there is a great atmosphere there and its one of the few occasions you will have the stadium filled with your own supporters and that is very

special," Madigan said.