Leinster chase down another title
head and the one at home to the Ospreys in the RDS [2012], when they came back and Dan Biggar kicked the winner from the sideline, that was a kick in the teeth.
‘You feel like you have been robbed. It’s a bit like walking down the street and seeing some guy walking hand in hand with your girlfriend or something, I don’t know. It just feels wrong.
‘I want a winners’ medal in my back pocket next weekend and to be celebrating with my mates. It was tough getting knocked out of the [Heineken Cup] quarters against Toulon, but winning the PRO12 will make up for that.
‘Any big successful club, you want to win trophies and win them backto-back. No team has done it before and it’s going to be tough. We have lost a few finals and they have hurt. I don’t want that feeling again.’
Recovered from the knock on the head that curtailed his involvement in the semi-final win over Ulster, McFadden teamed up with Specsavers last Wednesday to assist their search for Ireland’s most unbreakable friendship to match its new SuperTough lenses. Being short-sighted and requiring glasses at a lecture or when reading, he has a vested interest in the promotion. He even had a go at trying to prove the product wrong, attempting to break them, but he didn’t succeed.
‘They seem really durable. I’d have had mates when I was younger that couldn’t partake in sport to the same level as myself because they couldn’t wear glasses during soccer or whatever or they didn’t have contact lenses. But now the kids can get involved in whatever activity they want. The glasses can fall on the ground and they are unbreakable.’
Just like Leinster, McFadden hopes.