Former Irish international Ian Madigan's interest levels in events in Bilbao over the weekend are an absolute given that three of his former clubs are chasing European glory.
On Saturday, two of those, Leinster and holders Bordeaux-Begles, battle it out for the Champions Cup while another former employer, Ulster, will be in action at the San Mames Stadium the night before as they face Montpellier in the Challenge Cup decider – two competitions Madigan won while in Leinster blue.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio 1’s Morning Ireland, Madigan said the Leinster’s four final defeats from 2018/19 onwards won’t necessarily provide doubt, but perhaps instill extra drive.
"Bordeaux have been the form side in the Champions Cup and are effectively unbeaten now for two years so Leinster are going to have their work cut out, but they're a very good in their own right as well," he said.
"I think sometimes the desperation and the want and the will on the back of four losses in finals can be a very powerful driver.
"I believe that that can be the motivation to get them over the line and avoid losing a fifth final and get that fifth star."
Leo Cullen and his coaching staff will have as many boxes ticked heading to Basque Country as they possibly can – but the team’s ability to deal with the heat, forecasted for the mid to high 20s by kick-off, will be critical to their chances of success.
Coupled with that is an opposition game-plan that will revolve around staying patient, absorbing energy as the opposition loses theirs, and hitting on the break at speed, according to Madigan.
"These Bordeaux guys will be much more used to those high temperatures, especially when they're going through a normal pre-season, it's temperatures like that and even higher," he said.
"The Bordeaux game plan is really about absorbing a huge amount of pressure and then they target certain breakdowns, turn the ball over and then it's very simple - they move the ball to their speed guys, the likes of (Damian) Penaud and (Louis) Bielle-Biarrey and (Salesi) Rayasi and once they get the ball in their hands, they're really dangerous and they can beat you with footwork, speed, offloads.
"So, I think the key for Leinster is that they actually don't give those guys the opportunities; the defensive system is designed to shut them down before they get the ball to width and if Leinster are going to win, they'll need probably their best defensive performance of the recent times, definitely of the last two or three years."
While Madigan believes Leinster’s task is "doable", he feels Ulster are really up against it when the take on Montpellier in the curtain-raiser on finals weekend.
"They definitely have the attack to be able to beat Montpellier," he said.
"The big challenge for Ulster is can they defensively step up against a really powerful French side who are coming second in the Top 14, which is an impressive achievement in itself.
"Ulster, they've been great to watch this year, really exciting. They score a lot of points, I think they average over four tries a game, which is great for their supporters.
"But the big goal for them was being a Champions Cup side next year and it's all come down to this final game against Montpellier."
Meanwhile, ahead of the Champions Cup final, Leinster have added loosehead prop Paddy McCarthy and wing Jordan Larmour to their Champions Cup squad, with Alex Usanov and JJ Kenny deregistered.
Ireland winger Tommy O'Brien is Cullen's biggest injury concern ahead of tomorrow's team announcement.
