Ireland winger Mack Hansen on preparing to face the Wallabies and learning Amhrán na bhFiann.
Ireland winger Mack Hansen. THERE WILL BE over 50,000 people packed into the Aviva Stadium on Saturday night but all eyes will be on one man when Ireland and Australia line up for the anthems.
“It is still nice to hear from your peers and people back home, but not once have I been upset or kind of thought what if, if I stayed there or made the move.” Australia’s loss is Ireland’s gain. Hansen was immediately eligible to represent Ireland with his mother, Diana – maiden name O’Shea – growing up in Castlemartyr, Cork, before moving to Australia with her family when she was around seven years old. There are still O’Sheas in Cork, so Hansen had family on these shores when he arrived in the summer of 2021.“I like to think I’m a pretty head’s up player,” Hansen continues.
So what about this weekend, and the strange experience of standing through the Australian national anthem before singing the Irish one? “I’ll have a couple from my mum’s side that are over here who will get to the game. But there hasn’t been too much chat. No-one is trying to make this bigger than it really is. It’s something that doesn’t happen every day and I guess I was an Australian not too long ago and now I’m here playing for Ireland, but really it’s another Test match that we’re trying to win and that’s my main focus. I’m not focused on anything else.
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