The mercurial 26-year-old reflected on his move from Australia to the west of Ireland and, after signing a new two-year IRFU deal, how being a member of this Ireland squad means to him
Mack Hansen came to Galway for the craic and figured he'd move on to France or Japan to see the world as a rugby player.
"I think anyone would be mad to not take that opportunity and hopefully do a special thing in the next World Cup. It was always my intention to keep kicking on with this team." "I remember thinking coming to Galway that I was going to be living in a hut somewhere, that my lights were going to be candles and stuff like that, like I had no clue what I was coming into to be honest with you," he joked. "My whole thought coming over here was that my mum was born here, I had family and stuff here.
"Not that I didn't have aspirations to be playing for Ireland, I did. But I just never thought I was going to get there. My whole thinking was 'come over and have a bit of craic' and I think it worked in my favour, if anything. His other most memorable intervention in his first Six Nations, when Ireland lost in Paris three years ago but he scored directly off Joey Carbery's kick-off.
He would love to reunite with Farrell and make his return to Australia as a British and Irish Lions player this summer. "Oh look, it would be unbelievably cool to be part of it," Hansen said. "But it just depends how I’m playing in the Six Nations, that's what is going to get me picked.
Joey Carbery Ireland Rugby Union Team Six Nations Connacht Rugby Galway Andy Farrell British And Irish Lions
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