Andy Farrell hoping Mack Hansen brings pre-injury form to Wallabies clash

11 November 2025; Mack Hansen during an Ireland Rugby training session at the IRFU High Performance Centre in Dublin. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

Andy Farrell has backed a determined Mack Hansen to transfer his pre-injury form into a game-changing performance at full-back against Australia at Aviva Stadium this Saturday.

Hansen will start his first Test of the new season with a first international outing in the number 15 jersey as the head coach seeks to fill void created by injuries to Hugo Keenan and his November stand-in Jamie Osborne, who sustained a shoulder injury in last weekend’s 41-10 victory over Japan.

The Australian-born Connacht man has been selected at full-back in his last four appearances for the western province and managed 80 minutes there in his seasonal debut last month before suffering an aggravation of the foot injury which prevented him from a British & Irish Lions Test debut against the Wallabies during the summer.

Farrell was head coach of the Lions Down Under and suggested Hansen would have made the tourists’ Test team but for that injury and now the Ireland boss is hoping that tour form translates to an exciting performance in Dublin on Saturday.

“I think he was in great form, certainly within the Lions series, I mean, wow, I hadn't seen him in better form actually, and then obviously the foot injury stopped that progress.

“But I think he's got the bit between his teeth as far as what he learnt on that tour. He played his last game at 15 as well. Coming back into the group, he came in on Sunday night, got across his work Sunday and Monday and then trained the house down on Tuesday.

“He's proved to, not just to us, the coaching staff, but to everyone else that he's up for this and ready and able. I suppose as well, every single time that Mack's played for us as a winger, he's always covered full-back, he's always been able to get across the work there, so we get to see that in action.” 

Farrell has made nine changes from the line-up which started the Japanese game at the Aviva last Saturday, including handing a first Test start for rookie loosehead prop Paddy McCarthy, who had debuted off the bench on November 1 against New Zealand and scored a maiden international try as a replacement against the Brave Blossoms.

With regular starter Andrew Porter moved to the bench, Farrell was asked whether McCarthy’s selection was more than just with an eye on the future, that the 22-year-old was now a genuine contender for the number one jersey.

“Well, that’s what it should look like because we don’t put people in that position to be so vulnerable that it can damage them,” the head coach said.

“We look at how they’ve dealt with the pressure of coming into camp and how they deal with the first two games that Paddy’s had, and you work accordingly to that. We’ve seen an attitude that’s one, has been fantastic as far as coachability and learning and getting things pretty quickly but also being level-headed enough to not get too much in his own way as far as his thoughts are concerned.

“When you put together all of that with his bread and butter stuff, which is his scrummaging we’ve been really impressed so therefore he gets his start and rightly so.

“His temperament has been excellent. Not just how he's handled...Chicago would have been massive for him as far as a debut is concerned. The age he's at and up against the team he played his debut against and then backing that up is always hard when you're on a come down from a debut.

“But how he handled the week last week was excellent. He came on and he didn't just fit in, he added, he added to the group, so I think this is an ideal window for him and a few others to see how they manage a bit of continuity within how they play, whether it's win or lose, how they review, recover, and then deal with getting back up to the crescendo that's going to be Saturday night. He deserves his start and we're looking forward to seeing how he goes.” 

McCarthy will pack down in the front row alongside returning first-choice hooker Dan Sheehan and tighthead Tadhg Furlong while there is a further change in the forwards with Jack Conan’s selection at No.8 prompting a positional switch for captain Caelan Doris to openside flanker.

In the backline, Hansen replaces Osborne, James Lowe returns to the left wing as Jacob Stockdale drops out and Stuart McCloskey is recalled at inside centre after missing last weekend with a groin injury. The Ulster midfielder’s inclusion means a positional switch for Robbie Henshaw from 12 to outside centre while Sam Prendergast gets his first start of the November window at fly-half as Jack Crowley moves to the replacements alongside Munster half-back partner Craig Casey, with Jamison Gibson-Park restored to starting scrum-half.

Of Prendergast’s selection, Farrell said: “He deserves a start. Jack's done some good stuff and had three weeks there in the driving seat as far as preparation is concerned.

“We know that the 10s tend to run the week. Giving Sam an opportunity within a big game is pretty important to him, and to Jack as well. He came on and played pretty well so giving him the opportunity to hold the reins on Saturday night is the one that we've gone with.” 

He added: “There was a lot of change within the side last week, so you would have thought that that was always going to be the case at this stage of the season, with the four games being back-to-back and, you know, the three big Southern Hemisphere teams that we're up against. I think there was always going to be a little bit of juggling.” 

IRELAND: M Hansen (Corinthians/Connacht); T O'Brien (Blackrock College/Leinster), R Henshaw (Buccaneers/Leinster), S McCloskey (Bangor/Ulster), J Lowe (Leinster); S Prendergast (Lansdowne/Leinster), J Gibson-Park (Leinster); P McCarthy (Dublin University/Leinster), D Sheehan (Lansdowne/Leinster), T Furlong (Clontarf/Leinster); J Ryan (UCD/Leinster), T Beirne (Lansdowne/Munster); R Baird (Dublin University/Leinster), C Doris (St Mary’s College/Leinster) – captain, J Conan (Old Belvedere/Leinster).

Replacements: R Kelleher (Lansdowne/Leinster), A Porter (UCD/Leinster), T Clarkson (Blackrock College/Leinster), N Timoney (Banbridge/Ulster), C Prendergast (UCD/Connacht), C Casey (Shannon/Munster), J Crowley (Cork Constitution/Munster), B Aki (Galwegians/Connacht).

AUSTRALIA: M Jorgensen, F Daugunu, J-A Suaalii, L Ikitau, H Potter, J O’Connor, J Gordon; A Bell, M Faessler, A Alaalatoa, J Williams, T Hooper, Rob Valetini, F McReight, H Wilson (c).

Replacements: B Pollard, T Robertson, Z Nonggorr, N Frost, C Tizzano, R Lonergan, T Edmed, A Kellaway.