Reflecting on his one season with Bordeaux-Bègles, Ian Madigan says there were some exceptional highs and lows. The excitement of living in a beautiful city and the freshness of a preseason with a new team was followed by a dream debut in the Stade Chaban-Delmas, helping UBB to beat a Racing side who were the reigning French champions and featured a certain Dan Carter. “That high sustained itself for probably two or three months,” he adds, and in November UBB were second in the Top 14 and going well in their debut Champions Cup campaign. But, reflecting both the improved depth of their squad and their approach to Europe under Yannick Bru, having beaten Exeter away in the first of the December back-to-back matches, head coach Raphaël Ibañez rotated his side a week later.“I remember watching that game from the stand with Adam Ashley-Cooper and just could not get my head around why I wasn’t playing. We lost the game by eight points and we didn’t qualify by one point, and that left a seriously sour taste in my mouth, because I still had ambitions of playing for Ireland and I knew that my shop window wasn’t necessarily the Top 14. It was the Champions Cup.” He also suffered a bad groin injury and returned to an out-of-form team when at only 60 or 70 per cent of his capacity.“The club was in kind of turmoil with the coach. The players had lost faith in the coach and the coach [equally] lost faith in some of the players, me being one of them.”An offer came in from Bristol and UBB were receptive to Madigan leaving midway through a two-year deal. Then they sacked Ibañez, brought in Jacques Brunel and had him wondering about the move, although he has no regrets about his subsequent three seasons apiece with Bristol and Ulster.“But I think it’s really important to note that the stability of Bordeaux as a club now versus the one that I was playing in is very different.”This is a busy weekend for Madigan, with plenty of skin in both European finals, with Ulster in the Challenge Cup final while, of course, Leinster and Bordeaux-Bègles clash in Saturday’s Champions Cup final in Bilbao’s San Mamés Stadium (kick-off 2.45pm).[ Where the Champions Cup final between Leinster and Bordeaux will be won and lostOpens in new window ]As well as being part of Premier Sports’ team on both finals along with Simon Zebo, Andy Goode, John Barclay, Stephen Ferris and Lawrence Dallaglio, he will be co-commentator alongside Miles Harrison for the Champions Cup final.Doing “co-comms” is a recent change of role for the articulate Madigan, who finds it both more challenging and more exciting, and credits Ryle Nugent for giving him guidance. But Madigan is not remotely inclined to hide his allegiance.Ian Madigan of Ulster in a Munster A vs Ulster A