Make or break time for Madigan and Leinster

The reigning GUINNESS PRO12 champions fell to a narrow 24-18 defeat at Harlequins last weekend, with the English side now unbeaten in their pool.

Yet with the chance for revenge in the return fixture at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday night, Madigan has urged his players to draw on the home support to keep their European hopes alive.

And with the versatile 25-year-old set to partner Luke Fitzgerald in a new-look midfield, Madigan is confident he can supply the quick ball to get Leinster's backs firing.

"There is massive pressure this weekend," Madigan told The Irish Times. "All the chips are across the line. It's boom or bust this week. We know that as players.

"In fairness to the supporters and especially in the lead-up to Christmas they're showing their support again. There are going to be over 40,000 people at this game at the weekend.

"There is a big acknowledgement from the players that we have to perform this week, not just for ourselves but for the supporters and to show gratitude for that.

"We are trying to play slightly wider. For that to happen we need to be more accurate at the ruck and our passing quality needs to be slightly better.

"If those two things don't happen it means the guys in the wider channel have more pressure on them, less time on the ball and it happened three or four times in the wide channels last week where it didn't click.

"The higher quality ball we get for the team, the better for them as they will have more time on the ball."

Follow us on Facebook, join the conversation on Twitter, sign up to our YouTube channel for extensive match highlights and sign up for our newsletter for regular updates on the GUINNESS PRO12