Mack Hansen, as viewers of his post-match TV interviews can testify, talks like he plays. He shoots from the hip, as if with his mates on the beach or in the pub. Carefree, there’s no holding back. Not very many filters. Maybe not any.
So it was that when asked about the prospect of facing England on St Patrick’s weekend with the final leg of a Grand Slam on the line in Dublin for the first time ever, he said: “I’m so pumped for it. It’s going to be a great week, one to take in and savour. I’m so excited for it, especially at home on Paddy’s Day. It’s going to be unbelievable.”
Recalling his experience of St Patrick’s Day last year, Hansen said: “While we were having our captain’s meeting last year there was a brawl going on outside the hotel window. It was incredibly hard to focus when you could just hear people screaming. Then, you look out and there’s an ambulance with some bloke KO’d on the ground.
“If there was a brawl last year, then what’s this year going to be like? Riots?” he joked. “No, no, no ... we have unbelievable fans. It means a lot knowing how much it means to everyone in the stadium. The crazier the better! Paddy’s Day weekend, the script couldn’t have been better for us.”
The Australian-born Connacht winger, whose mum is Irish, also comes from a land where England are innate sporting enemies. When asked about the Ireland-England rivalry, he initially responded: “I don’t know if I should say too much.” But then, of course, he did, in his inimitable tongue-in-cheek way.
“There’s a fair bit of hatred, isn’t there? It’s good, though, because once the game is done they are good lads like everyone else. That shit happened,” he continued, the shit being, well, history. “How long ago now? But it does add a bit of fire to the game. I was unlucky that I didn’t get to play last year, so fingers crossed I get to play next Saturday.”
As to being aware of this growing up in Australia, he commented: “I think everybody hates England in general! It’s something I was aware of for sure.”
All quips apart, Hansen has no doubt that England’s record Twickenham defeat against France last Saturday will spark a furious reaction from Steve Borthwick’s side.
“The worst thing that could have happened for us was England getting pumped at home. You just know they’re going to turn around. They’re a great side. It didn’t go their way against France, they still have unreal players.
“We know they’re going to bounce back, we know they’re going to bring a lot of energy. It’ll be a completely different team to last weekend. But we want to play against the best and if they’re at their best then it’s going to be great – a good match.”
It would not be entirely surprising to see Owen Farrell restored to the starting line-up, which prompted another tongue-in-cheek response from Hansen when asked about coming up against the Irish head coach’s son.
“There’ll be no moves run at Owen if he’s playing. There’ll be a lot of chat about lightly tapping him to the ground! Nah, Andy’s very good at just letting that go. He’s not going to slate him by any means but it’s just another game and it just happens that his son is playing for the other team. Andy will say the right words and get us pumped up no matter what.
“Owen will be broken up to bits, losing like that at Twickenham,” added Hansen. “It’s probably the worst thing that could have happened for us because they’ll turn around and they’ll be hungry to make up for it.”
When Andy Farrell was asked about Hansen, his first response was, simply: “Wow.” Johnny Sexton talked about Hansen being a breath of fresh air, of bringing something different.
Aside from his brilliant finish for his first-half try, Hansen’s involvements for a winger were exceptional. He seemed to be constantly buzzing around the ball. He doesn’t necessarily look the part, but there were a couple of turnovers at the breakdown. That stunning take off Gibson-Park’s box kick and offload to Sexton, that right to left pass off his wing to James Lowe, that disguised, try-scoring skip pass to Jack Conan when, as Simon Zebo highlighted on RTE, Hansen squared his hips and duped Duhan van der Merwe into thinking he was passing short to Hugo Keenan.
“Some big plays,” said Sexton. “Even that take from the box kick, I probably should have scored if I’d anticipated it a bit better because I was going in to clear out and next thing he got his hands free. Big plays throughout and a couple of great finishes for his tries. He’s been a breath of fresh air for us, he brings something different, he pops up all over the place and he’s a quality player.”
“Wow,” Farrell began. “He (Hansen) cramped up at one stage and he forgot all about it, thank goodness. He found a way to get himself involved in the game and that’s what he is. He’s just a player, James Lowe is similar in that regard, just a player trying to make things happen. He went down with cramp and so did Bundee but they kept finding a way.”
