IRELAND HEAD COACH Andy Farrell hailed the impact of Mack Hansen on his first Test start at fullback after his side’s 46-19 win over Australia.
Connacht man Hansen made his comeback from a foot injury in Ireland’s number 15 shirt and scored a first-half hat-trick, as well as contributing some brilliant aerial work, a huge work-rate in the backfield, and his usual energy in attack.
With Ireland having lost both Hugo Keenan and Jamie Osborne to injury, Hansen’s performance at fullback was one of several positives on a happy night for Ireland.
As he praised Hansen’s player-of-the-match performance, Ireland boss Farrell joked about the fullback wearing one black boot and one white boot.
“Well, my first thoughts were, ‘You better play well in those two different coloured boots!’” said Farrell.
“I actually thought that was how it should have been, but apparently Mack just did that himself anyway. So he’s drawn attention to himself before he’s even started!
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“I said to him before the game, ‘Good players don’t need excuses, they can get on with it and just be themselves, you can get the man of the match if you want,’ and he went, ‘Yeah, I agree.’
“So he’s that type of player, he prepares well, he’s got a great attitude to get across his detail and so that’s why he slotted straight back in and he was able to be himself because of that.
“Obviously, popping up in the middle of the field is something that he does from the wing anyway, but I suppose he’s more in position for that more often.
“His high ball stuff was brilliant, wasn’t it? I thought we didn’t get bored of doing the right thing and that was putting the ball back on them to get the field position, and the reason why that was the right thing to do is because it’s the likes of Mack who was getting the balls back, and Lowey, so pretty pleasing.”
Ireland head coach Andy Farrell. Gary Carr / INPHO
Gary Carr / INPHO / INPHO
Ireland added three other tries to Hansen’s hat-trick, with captain Caelan Doris, Ryan Baird, and Robbie Henshaw all scoring in the second half.
While there were moments when Ireland dipped, this was a much-improved performance following defeat to New Zealand and a win over Japan.
“It’s very pleasing to be sat in here with a score like that in those type of conditions against a side which would have been well up for this,” said Farrell.
“It’s pretty pleasing how we handled lots of bits throughout the game, especially them coming back just before half time and regathering ourselves and giving a performance like we did in the second half. I thought as far as field position and being across most of our game in that second half was really pleasing.”
Among the negatives for Ireland was the first-half injury to centre Stuart McCloskey, who suffered a recurrence of the groin issue that kept him out of the Japan game last weekend.
“It looks like his groin again,” said Farrell. “He’s been great all week and rehabbed thoroughly the week before, but obviously playing Test match rugby is a little bit different, so yeah, not nice for Stu, but we’ll see how bad it is over the next coming days.”
Thomas Clarkson went for a Head Injury Assessment late on after a high tackle from Wallabies lock Nick Frost, but Ireland came through unscathed otherwise as they now look to a huge Test against South Africa next weekend.
Among the other boosts ahead of that game was a 100% return for the Irish lineout, which had some hiccups in previous weekends.
“It was good, yeah, defensively as well,” said Ireland skipper Doris. “When you’ve asked me in the past about the lineout when it hasn’t been functioning as well, I’ve said that there’s full belief in Paulie [O'Connell] and the lineout leaders there.
“They put a tonne of time into it. So there’s a feeling of it’s only a matter of time until it starts to take again and you saw that today.
“Obviously, the South African lineout is another beast altogether so we’ll need plenty more of what we saw today again next week. So it’s a big week in that department coming up.”
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'He's drawn attention to himself before he's even started!'
IRELAND HEAD COACH Andy Farrell hailed the impact of Mack Hansen on his first Test start at fullback after his side’s 46-19 win over Australia.
Connacht man Hansen made his comeback from a foot injury in Ireland’s number 15 shirt and scored a first-half hat-trick, as well as contributing some brilliant aerial work, a huge work-rate in the backfield, and his usual energy in attack.
With Ireland having lost both Hugo Keenan and Jamie Osborne to injury, Hansen’s performance at fullback was one of several positives on a happy night for Ireland.
As he praised Hansen’s player-of-the-match performance, Ireland boss Farrell joked about the fullback wearing one black boot and one white boot.
“Well, my first thoughts were, ‘You better play well in those two different coloured boots!’” said Farrell.
“I actually thought that was how it should have been, but apparently Mack just did that himself anyway. So he’s drawn attention to himself before he’s even started!
“I said to him before the game, ‘Good players don’t need excuses, they can get on with it and just be themselves, you can get the man of the match if you want,’ and he went, ‘Yeah, I agree.’
“So he’s that type of player, he prepares well, he’s got a great attitude to get across his detail and so that’s why he slotted straight back in and he was able to be himself because of that.
“Obviously, popping up in the middle of the field is something that he does from the wing anyway, but I suppose he’s more in position for that more often.
“His high ball stuff was brilliant, wasn’t it? I thought we didn’t get bored of doing the right thing and that was putting the ball back on them to get the field position, and the reason why that was the right thing to do is because it’s the likes of Mack who was getting the balls back, and Lowey, so pretty pleasing.”
Ireland added three other tries to Hansen’s hat-trick, with captain Caelan Doris, Ryan Baird, and Robbie Henshaw all scoring in the second half.
While there were moments when Ireland dipped, this was a much-improved performance following defeat to New Zealand and a win over Japan.
“It’s very pleasing to be sat in here with a score like that in those type of conditions against a side which would have been well up for this,” said Farrell.
“It’s pretty pleasing how we handled lots of bits throughout the game, especially them coming back just before half time and regathering ourselves and giving a performance like we did in the second half. I thought as far as field position and being across most of our game in that second half was really pleasing.”
Among the negatives for Ireland was the first-half injury to centre Stuart McCloskey, who suffered a recurrence of the groin issue that kept him out of the Japan game last weekend.
“It looks like his groin again,” said Farrell. “He’s been great all week and rehabbed thoroughly the week before, but obviously playing Test match rugby is a little bit different, so yeah, not nice for Stu, but we’ll see how bad it is over the next coming days.”
Thomas Clarkson went for a Head Injury Assessment late on after a high tackle from Wallabies lock Nick Frost, but Ireland came through unscathed otherwise as they now look to a huge Test against South Africa next weekend.
Among the other boosts ahead of that game was a 100% return for the Irish lineout, which had some hiccups in previous weekends.
“It was good, yeah, defensively as well,” said Ireland skipper Doris. “When you’ve asked me in the past about the lineout when it hasn’t been functioning as well, I’ve said that there’s full belief in Paulie [O'Connell] and the lineout leaders there.
“They put a tonne of time into it. So there’s a feeling of it’s only a matter of time until it starts to take again and you saw that today.
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