Leinster's league win in '14 was right up there

AS A kid, I remember going into Donnybrook, as it was then, and watching Leinster playing and thinking these guys are superstars.

- IAN MADIGAN

Me and my brother would go home afterwards and pretend to be those players, playing in imaginary games at Lansdowne Road. Until I got to about 15, realistically that was about as close as I ever thought I would get to emulating them. But while I was at Blackrock College the pathway in front of me towards professional rugby became more apparent and the fact that I was working with people who'd made that journey before me, made it seem even more real.

Felipe Contepomi was the main Leinster 10 when I was coming through the academy and Johnny Sexton was clipping at his heels, and there were also quality older guys like Shaun Berne, the Australian who'd been at Bath. He was coming towards the end of his career and while we were competing in a way, he was above that, in the sense that he was more interested in helping to show me the ropes than holding onto his position, which I was very grateful for. So I learnt a huge amount from him.

I was lucky to have some brilliant coaches while I was there. I experienced Michael Cheika as an 18/19-year-old, and he really had his finger on the pulse when it came to coaching and was a brilliant motivator. And then Joe Schmidt came in, who I think is the best coach in the world. It was an absolute pleasure to be working with him with Ireland and Leinster.

I was also very lucky playing with scrum-halves like Eoin Reddan and Isaac Boss; they were happy to provide me with the ball, sharing the decision-making. When you are playing with the likes of Gordon D'Arcy and Brian O'Driscoll outside of you and you've got Rob Kearney and Luke Fitzgerald and Isa Nacewa in your back three, it is not rocket science, you just get the ball to those guys as much as possible because the more you get the ball to them, the likelihood of you winning goes up, it's that simple.