Mack Hansen ‘living the dream' with British & Irish Lions after once cheering AGAINST them in ‘alternative universe'
MACK HANSEN was baying for Lions blood 12 years ago — now he is lining up for them back in his homeland.
The Aussie-born
tattoo
of Lions coach
2
Mack Hansen will start for the Lions against Western Force
Credit: Getty Images - Getty
2
He came off the bench in defeat to Argentina
Credit: Sportsfile - Subscription
Hansen has seen first-hand what it means for an underdog province to topple the Lions when they get their once-in-a-career shot at it.
The Canberra-raised ace was 15 when dad Craig took him to watch local outfit the Brumbies take on Warren Gatland's side during the 2013 tour.
Hansen, who played for the Brumbies from 2018-2021, went wild in the stands as a Lions team including Ireland trio Rob Kearney, Seán O'Brien and Rory Best were downed 14-12.
The 27-year-old said: 'It seems like an alternative universe. I remember the buzz around
Read More on Lions
'It was amazing. I always loved the Lions and I didn't know it would be something that I'd get to do — but I'm here and I'm enjoying it. It feels like I'm properly living the dream.
'We were sitting behind the goalposts watching it. It was mad.
'I talked to guys after that and they'd been pumped up for the game for weeks, working towards it.
'They saw it as the be-all and end-all. Also, guys are playing to try to get into the Wallabies as well, so there's still a lot on the line for a lot of these teams.'
Most read in Rugby Union
Hansen qualifies for
He saw the Farrell fear factor in action after the Lions slumped to a 28-24 reverse to
'Cried like a baby didn't ya-' - Watch Andy Farrell embarrass Ireland star over reaction to Lions call-up
And Hansen knows what is coming if the tourists slip up again today.
But the 28-cap wing insists his side should be knocking over the provincial teams easily before the Test series.
He added: 'If anything, it's good to feel it early and then we know that we'll get our heads absolutely chewed off if it happens again.
'The only thing that can beat us, is us. We're from four of the best teams in the world, so the expectation is to win regardless of who you're playing.
'You should be winning every time, so every time it's a loss, it just isn't good enough.'
LIONS: Daly; Hansen, Ringrose, Tuipulotu, Lowe; Russell, Williams; Schoeman, Sheehan (capt), Furlong, Cummings, McCarthy, Beirne, Van der Flier, Pollock. Reps: Kelleher, Porter, Stuart, Chessum, Conan, Mitchell, Jones, M Smith.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The 42
21 minutes ago
- The 42
Eight-try Lions dispatch Force to get up and running in Australia
Western Force 7 Lions 54 IT DIDN'T LOOK like Andy Farrell was a happy man at half time, but his Lions team ran out comfortable winners over the Western Force in their opening match on Australian soil. Finn Russell steered the ship superbly from out-half as he made a strong start in his claim to the Test number 10, the Scottish playmaker mixing delightful attacking touches and razor-sharp awareness with muscular defence and fine kicking. Ireland's Joe McCarthy was the pick of the forward pack in Perth, his aggressive, powerful, industrious work in the tight rewarded with a second-half try as the Lions opened up. Farrell will pick out lots for the Lions to improve upon – most notably their work at restarts, discipline errors in the first half, and consistency in defensive impact – yet he and his assistants enjoyed some of the freewheeling work that yielded eight tries. The first big injury concern on tour is Welsh scrum-half Tomos Williams, who hurt his hamstring in the act of scoring his second try of the night at Optus Stadium. Williams has started this Lions campaign well, and now must hope it's nothing serious. That second Williams try was perhaps the pick of the bunch from the Lions, with the busy Mack Hansen and James Lowe integrally involved in an 80-metre breakout effort sparked by a smart long pass by McCarthy in his own 22. Advertisement Tomos Williams is the big injury concern. Dan Sheridan / INPHO Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO That said, the first Lions score – in just the second minute – was also a beauty. Patient, composed phase-play attack led to Russell picking out captain Dan Sheehan with an accurate cross-field kick. Sheehan popped back inside to Lowe, who darted for the right corner but then had the presence of mind to slip a one-handed back inside to Sheehan, the hooker surging over the tryline. The highly talented 20-year-old Henry Pollock featured prominently in Williams' first score, combining well with fellow back row Josh van der Flier to take an offload from the Irishman and then surge towards the line before calmly offloading to the Welsh halfback. Pollock's classy chip and regather also laid the platform for McCarthy's second-half score, although a yellow card at the end of the first half was a frustration for the prodigious English back row. That yellow came after a rather sloppy opening half in which the Lions gave up too many easy penalties and struggled badly under the Force's restarts as Scottish lock Scott Cummings had something of a nightmare in that area. Farrell was highly animated while delivering his half-time words to the Lions and though the tourists then started the second half poorly, that breakout score finished by Williams soon had them up and running. Finn Russell impressed for the Lions. Dan Sheridan / INPHO Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO Ireland centre Garry Ringrose got his name on the scoresheet too, taking a classy inside ball from Hansen to finish after slick handling by midfielder Sione Tuipulotu and the impressively solid fullback Elliot Daly. However, it was Ringrose's defensive work that made the biggest impression as he left big physical marks on the Force with his thunderous tackling. The collective defensive effort wasn't perfect but Ringrose's intent and physicality were impossible to miss. Daly notched a first-half score after Russell made a clever decision to tap and run a penalty 40 metres out when the Force switched off in expectation of a line kick, while the third-time Lion finished another in the second half when replacement Marcus Smith sent him over. After the Lions bench made an impact, Jack Conan in particular, Farrell's men finished with a flourish at Optus Stadium as Tuipulotu and Hansen combined to tee up replacement scrum-half Alex Mitchell. The Force responded strongly to Sheehan's opening try, with skipper Nic White scoring just minutes later, but they were unable to do further damage despite enjoying their fair share of territory and possession. The Western Australians never had the attacking class they needed to truly hurt the Lions, who now move quickly onto Brisbane for Wednesday's second game against Les Kiss' Queenslands Reds. There is clearly lots hard work ahead for the Lions, but there were plenty of glimmers of Test potential in Perth. Western Force scorers: Tries: Nic White Conversions: Ben Donaldson [1 from 1] Lions scorers: Tries: Dan Sheehan, Tomos Williams [2], Elliot Daly [2], Garry Ringrose, Joe McCarthy, Alex Mitchell Conversions: Finn Russell [5 from 6], Marcus Smith [2 from 2]
RTÉ News
37 minutes ago
- RTÉ News
Tomos Williams injury mars much-improved Lions win
British and Irish Lions head coach Andy Farrell could be forced into an early injury call-up on this summer's tour of Australia, with a Tomos Williams hamstring injury the main blot on this morning's comprehensive win against the Western Force in Perth. The Lions ran out 54-7 winners at Optus Stadium after they recovered from a patchy opening quarter, getting their Australian tour up and running. Wales scrum-half Williams followed his strong performance off the bench in the defeat to Argentina with two tries in another impressive display behind the scrum, but the 30-year-old will now be sweating for his place on the rest of the tour, after picking up a hamstring issue. Williams departed, clutching his hamstring, immediately after scoring his second try early in the second half, replaced by Alex Mitchell for the remainder of the game, and Farrell says it's too early to tell the extent of the damage. "It's a tight hamstring, so you don't know what these things are like," he said. "Hopefully it's a bit of cramp but we'll assess that in the morning." Even a minor injury could leave Farrell needing to make an addition to his squad, with another game coming up on Wednesday against Queensland Reds in Brisbane. Leinster and Ireland's Jamison Gibson-Park is yet to feature in the opening two games, having missed Leinster's URC final against the Bulls with a similar issue. He's expected to be fit to play the Reds on Wednesday, but the Williams injury would likely require Mitchell to play for the third game in a row, and possibly even start for the fourth time in three weeks when they move on to Sydney against the Waratahs next Saturday. As such, it's likely the Lions will add another scrum-half to their squad, with England and Leicester Tigers' Jack van Poortvliet the most likely candidate, having trained with the squad in Dublin last week. Overall, it was a positive outing for the Lions, who took just two minutes to get in for their opening try as Dan Sheehan (below) marked his captaincy with an early score. The tourists struggled with kick-offs and restarts throughout the game, which will be the main focus for Farrell this week, and that allowed the Force to level the game shortly after through Nic White. The Australia scrum-half had promised the Force would "bash up" the Lions in their first game on Australian soil, and while it didn't happen on the scoreboard, Farrell admits they caused them a lot of problems with their physicality. "They certainly came out the blocks in the first half and hit us hard in the breakdown and played with some good intent. That's a good start for us. "Let's be honest, the Force took it to us there, certainly in the first 25 minutes. "I thought they played a tough, high percentage game. They kept the ball really well and we kept them in good field positions through our ill-discipline. They were physical at the breakdown, so it was a real good test for us in that first half. "Delighted with how we composed ourselves at half time and kept that composure in the second half. "It's been a lot of the lads' first game for the Lions. We're up and running. We've a couple of players who've not played, they'll get to play in the next couple of games. We'll keep pushing forward. "It's nice to get the tries on the board, and a few good individual performances, and also a collective performance. That's all good for the future, because we need to keep pushing." The error-strewn attack in Dublin last week looked far sharper in Perth, with Finn Russell (above) firmly establishing himself as the front-runner for the starting out-half slot. Similarly, Sione Tuipulotu looked more comfortable in the 12 channel, while he combined well with both Garry Ringrose and Huw Jones outside him. The handling was also sharper, and the decision-making was clear, evident by Henry Pollock choosing against a speculative offload for Russell in the first half, instead delaying for half a second and popping up to Williams for the scrum-half's opening try. It was one of several excellent moments for Pollock, although he will be frustrated with a yellow card at the tail end of the first half, where the Lions were punished for repeated infringements. Pollock and Mack Hansen were probably the two players who summed up the tourists' day, providing valuable involvements with moments of frustration. Hansen started slowly and some missed tackles had the potential to knock his game off the rails, but he looked in exceptional form after the break. He played a big role in multiple second half tries, but the standout play came midway through the second half when he chased down a kick from Ben Donaldson deep into his own half, before getting back out to his wing seconds later to send a clearing kick deep. Not only that, but Hansen sprinted after his own kick, forcing enough pressure to make the Force knock the ball on, a moment Farrell highlighted afterwards. "The play of the day, there's some fantastic tries, but the play of the day, if you want to look at what a Lion should do for his team. "When Mack Hansen went up and down the field, end to end and never gave up and fought for his team. That's the type of spirit we want throughout the team," he added.
Irish Times
37 minutes ago
- Irish Times
Western Force tested Lions fully, says Andy Farrell
Coach Andy Farrell was pleased with how the British & Irish Lions stayed in the contest early on against the Western Force on Saturday before running away with a 54-7 victory to kick off their tour of Australia. Lions management had questioned whether the tour matches against Super Rugby teams would be competitive enough to prepare the Lions properly for the test series with so many Wallabies in camp and unavailable to play. The Force, the weakest of Australia's four Super Rugby teams, made a mockery of those fears in the opening quarter of Saturday's match when they held the tourists at 7-7 and had a string of penalties inside the Lions 22-metre line. 'The Force played the ball from everywhere and kept the ball in play, that's exactly what we wanted and they tested us fully,' Farrell said. READ MORE 'I was happy with how we stayed in the fight because it was a tough old start to the game. At 7-7, everything was locked wasn't it really? So I thought we stayed in the game really well. 'We reassessed at halftime and then hit them on the break which was pretty pleasing, and after that I thought our defence was pretty strong.' The Lions were beaten 28-24 by Argentina in their first outing in Dublin last week and Farrell said there was still plenty to work on despite the lopsided scoreline in Perth. 'There's fantastic learnings for us again,' he added. 'We had a few things to fix, mainly our discipline, but once we gained a little bit of composure, I thought the second half was a little bit better. 'Some nice stuff but obviously, at this stage in the tour, a lot still to do.' The Lions play the Queensland Reds, New South Wales Waratahs, ACT Brumbies and an invitational Australia-New Zealand XV over the next three weeks before the first test against the Wallabies in Brisbane on July 19th.
