Andy Farrell excited to see 'natural footballer' Mack Hansen line out for Ireland

Hansen, 23 and born in Canberra, only arrived at Connacht during the summer but has made an impactful start to life in the west

Mack Hansen during Ireland Rugby squad training at IRFU HPC at the Sport Ireland Campus in Dublin. Picture: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

Listening to Andy Farrell describe the attributes he thinks debutant Mack Hansen can bring to the Ireland team against Wales tomorrow it was difficult to imagine why seeing his name on the teamsheet just a couple of hours earlier had been such a surprise.

Hansen, 23 and born in Canberra, Australia to a Cork-born mother from Castlemartyr, only arrived at Connacht during the summer but if his introduction to Test rugby on the opening day of the 2022 Guinness Six Nations is as impactful as his fast start to life in the west has been then Ireland supporters at Aviva Stadium are in for a treat.

Six tries in nine appearances, many of which showcased a rapid turn of pace and dazzling footwork to wrong-step defenders, earned Hansen a place in head coach Farrell’s 37-man squad for the championship at the end of last month and speaking from the warm weather training camp in Portugal, the former Australia U20 wing spoke of the surreal feeling of his elevation to the Irish squad but also that now he was in it he would be striving to earn that precious first cap.

The injury that forced James Lowe out of the equation has made that possible although it was assumed Ulster’s Robert Baloucoune, the form horse, and Munster’s Keith Earls, the experienced and clinical finisher, were ahead of Hansen in the race to fill the vacant number 11 jersey.

Yet Farrell revealed yesterday following his team announcement that both Baloucoune, 24 and with two caps, and Earls, 10 years older and with 94 more caps, had missed training sessions due to hamstring niggles but that Hansen had earned his start.

“He is a rugby player. He has got all the skill, he is nice and calm in his manner on the field as well,” the head coach said of the debutant. “He tends to be really chilled, sees pictures nice and early because he is ahead of the game.

“And, look, it is his first cap, of course there will be things he will get wrong etc and we will assess that and build through the competition with him.

“He is a natural footballer. He has played quite a lot of rugby as a 15, maybe something we will look at down the line with him as well. He has played quite a bit at 10 and he is deceptively quick as well. So we're excited to get Mack up and running.”

Hansen’s inclusion and a start in the second row for Tadhg Beirne represent the only changes from the starting XV that defeated New Zealand in such impressive style last November as Farrell has stuck in the most part with the players who have delivered eight successive Test victories since round three of the 2021 championship.

Beirne is selected to partner James Ryan but there is no place in the matchday 23 for Ulster captain Iain Henderson who, like Ryan has played little since that 29-20 win over the All Blacks due to injuries. Henderson will be fit and ready to go after the weekend where his physicality and frame could be a vital asset against tournament favourites France in Paris the following Saturday in round two.

For now, though, Ryan Baird gets the nod as back-up lock.

Johnny Sexton resumes the captaincy on his 102nd Ireland cap at fly-half and partners scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park, who once again keeps Conor Murray on the bench, while Bundee Aki and Garry Ringrose have been retained in midfield for their 15th Test outing together as as Robbie Henshaw misses out having also emerged as carrying an adductor strain in his thigh during training.

With Hansen replacing the injured Lowe on the left wing, the Connacht man forms a back three with Munster’s Andrew Conway on the right and Leinster’s Hugo Keenan at full-back for his 17th consecutive Ireland start.

It is a pacy backline but Farrell does not just want pure speed.

“Wales have a fast backline as well, so I hope it is a little bit more than that. I hope it is smart. I hope it's dynamic. I hope it has a lot of feel, and know-how to it.

“Obviously when it comes to selection a lot of it boils down to how you want to play the game. So we're quite happy with the side that we've picked and, hopefully, they can put a performance out there that we can be proud of.”

There is also continuity in the rest of the forward pack with all-Leinster combinations in both the front and back rows that are now established at Test level, while Farrell has a mix of experience levels among his replacements with hooker Dan Sheehan and centre James Hume standing by for Six Nations debuts while at fly-half Joey Carbery has proven his fitness following a fractured elbow last December to hold off Jack Carty as play-making cover for both Sexton and Keenan.

The Munster duo of back-rower Peter O’Mahony and scrum-half will win their 80th and 93rd caps respectively if deployed while loosehead replacement Cian Healy is poised for cap 113.

It looks like an exciting starting line-up and a strong, impactful set of replacements with which Ireland will look to hit the ground running and maintain momentum ahead of that potentially pivotal game at Stade de France.