Madigan will not let Jackson rivalry distract him from sniffing victory for Begles

IAN MADIGAN insists his personal battle with Paddy Jackson will not dominate his thinking when the two aspiring Irish Test No.10s clash in Bordeaux today.

Madigan played a starring role at the last World Cup after Jonny Sexton picked up an injury, but it was Ulster’s Jackson who started all three Tests in South Africa last summer, restricting Madigan to just seven minutes all series.

Sexton is expected to start for Ireland in next month’s autumn Tests, leaving the young pair fighting for a place on the bench.

“It’s just another match for me,” insisted the 26year-old Madigan, who left Leinster to move to France last summer.

“It’s a match within a match, but it's not who plays better than who.

“If Bordeaux beat Ulster, it’s a win for me, that is all I’m concerned about, doing the best I can for the team so that we win.

“I’m not concerned about proving that I’m a better player than Paddy. If I go down that route it’s teeing myself up to play a very poor game.

“He’s been growing year on year. His confidence is getting better, he’s very fast, he’s got a good passing and kicking game, a good break and is very confident in the

tackle. He showed last season that he’s developed into a leader, which is great for him and Ulster.”

While Bordeaux-Begles had a mixed start to their season, Ulster have been impressive and they go into the Champions Cup fortnight sitting top of the PRO12 table.

However, their unbeaten run was halted by a 30-25 defeat to Connacht last weekend and director of rugby Les Kiss knows they’ll have to be at their best to win in France.

He said: “Hopefully we can take some lessons from the wins against Toulouse home and away last year and approach it in a similar fashion.

“You need to be on your game right from the first whistle and play at a good tempo against the French teams.

“We’ll have to dust ourselves down from last weekend, take an honest look at things and move forward. We’ve got to, that’s all there is to it.”

Kiss has made eight changes to his lineup with Andrew Trimble, Luke Marshall, Stuart Olding and Ruan Pienaar all returning to the back line.

They are still without Wasps’ hero from last season, Charles Piutau, who is still recovering from a concussion sustained in league action a fortnight ago.