IRELAND STAR FERGUS McFadden says he is hopeful he will be fit in time for the start of Ireland’s Six Nations campaign.

McFadden, who is suffering from a broken hand, confirmed he will miss Leinster’s back-to-back matches with Northampton, but may even be available for their subsequent Heineken Cup fixtures.

“It’s a bit of a sickner for me but my rehab and recovery is well underway,” he says.

He explains that he hasn’t been doing much in terms of physical activity, but that would change imminently, with his cast set to be removed.

“When it’s off, each day I’ll be getting closer to getting back playing, so I’m looking forward to it.”

In addition, McFadden admits it was “really tough” to watch the All Blacks game having been ruled out owing to his injury, however he seems determined to look on the bright side.

“You’ve got to look at it in the long term,” he says. “Six weeks in a season is not the end of the world.

“It’d be worse if Leinster were playing for trophies and I wasn’t in the mix. Also, the aim is to try to get back into consideration for selection for the Six Nations. Get back with Leinster playing and try to put myself in the shake-up for Ireland again. So it could be a lot worse.”

Watching the game away from the intense atmosphere of the Aviva Stadium, McFadden’s reaction was not much different to that of the average fan.

“Obviously I was really rooting for the guys and I couldn’t believe how the game turned out.

“I was proud to have been involved and I know what we’re capable of. After the disappointment and the abuse we got from everyone after the game against Australia, it was great to bounce back and it seems like people will be a bit more excited about going to the Six Nations now.

“There’ll also probably be a bit more good press about it, which will be good for us.”

The player ultimately believes both the dominance at the breakdown and the refereeing style were key in facilitating Ireland’s brave performance.

“At test level, the breakdown is where the game is won and lost. Nigel Owens saw that we were probably bossing the breakdown and you could see decisions going our way from there.

“You paint those pictures of the ref, it might seem like he’s making preferential decisions, but we were winning the collisions, winning at the breakdown. New Zealand then got a bit more into it in the second half. It’s probably the best game of rugby I’ve seen since that last test between South Africa and New Zealand.

“It was an unbelievable performance, particularly with the All Blacks being seen as one of the greatest teams of all time. It’s great in that respect but at the end of the day we didn’t win so, there’s probably other performances I’d put ahead of it now. But it was really encouraging.”

The 27-year-old also played down suggestions that Ireland could have been more streetwise in their management of the game’s final minutes.

“I don’t think we were going out to give away a penalty. That decison went against us. Paul O’Connell alluded to the fact that when people who aren’t streetwise give away a silly penalty, you’d like to think we could defend our 60-yard line, which we’d been defending the whole game. I know lads were tired but it was just disappointing that they went the whole length of the pitch and scored.

“It reminded me a bit of the game against Wales a few years ago at the start of the Six Nations. The Welsh got the ball from a few metres away from their line all the way up to a penalty that was within kicking distance. It’s just the worst way to lose a game, particularly when we didn’t deserve to lose. I think us not being streetwise is the wrong conclusion to make.”

Returning to the subject of Leinster, McFadden is confident his teammates have the ability to alleviate the threat of danger man George North, in his absence on Saturday.

“Obviously, he’s a very powerful and strong player with space, but in the pre-season game we shut him down pretty well.

“As we saw with the Lions, he’ll punish any team of any quality. I’m sure the lads will do their homework on him.

“Whoever marks him — the strength in depth in the back three is quite high, so they should be well able for it. If anything, he’ll have a bit to handle as well with the lads he’ll be marking.”

And does he believe the upcoming Northampton clashes are must-win games?

“No! We lost both [back-to-back games] last year and got two losing bonus points and still just narrowly missed out.

“Winning them, you take massive pressure off. In the end, some teams have a lot to play for, while others have lost interest because they’re out of the mix.

“Last year, for Leinster, the damage was done in the back to backs. I think it is the fulcrum of the pool stage. And these two games will be key for us to win.”

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