Mack Hansen's Galway move helped him to grow up, jokes ex-colleague James Slipper
Australia's James Slipper and Tom Wright reminisce on rise of Mack Hansen at the Brumbies while Slipper pays tribute to Ireland's record breaker Cian Healy ahead of Aviva Stadium clash
James Slipper jokes that moving to Connacht made his former Brumbies team-mate Mack Hansen grow up.
Slipper, 35, was one of the more senior players at the Super Rugby outfit when Hansen was coming through, and before he made the leap from his Australian home to Galway ahead of the 2021-22 season.
“I just think it's good to see him grow up," smiled Slipper, who is back in the Wallabies team that faces Hansen and Ireland tomorrow afternoon. "He was like a genuine Canberra boy.
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"So to come to Ireland and do as well as he has done, it is just phenomenal to watch, as a mate. Even back at Brums he used to get his parents to pick him up at training every day and make his lunch and stuff like that. Hopefully he has got that sorted now.”
Slipper's Wallabies team-mate Tom Wright recalls working with Hansen as part of the backs unit at the Canberra club. "He was obviously quickly one of the cult heroes over here for a good reason, plays a brand of football that's entertaining to watch - he was always that skilful, talented player when he was in Canberra," said Wright.
“He was probably just behind a fair few talented guys in that position, he was sort of a 10/15 coming through the Brumbies ranks, and he was one of the favoUrite guys in the locker room. It's awesome to see how quickly he adapted to the Irish lifestyle and Irish style of play.
“I was fortunate to play the last time we were here in the Aviva and we were the opposing numbers so we did an awesome jersey exchange which is one of the ones I hold really close to my heart, just as an ex-teammate. Him and Slips have got some good stories. Yeah, they won’t be repeated.”
Meanwhile, Slipper paid tribute to a player who he could face in the front row - Cian Healy will make his 134th Ireland appearance, a new record.
"Yeah, the old fella is still going, which is really good to see," said the 35-year-old of his fellow loosehead. "He's a good character - he's been around a long time for the Ireland team and is one of those players that's well-respected across the world.
"It's a mighty effort, he's obviously taken over as the most capped Irish player this week, and I'm sure it's going to be a really special night for him and his family. I'll be looking out for him after the game to share a beer, for sure.
"I think longevity is more about being smart around your prep, your training and the recovery, but you also need to push at times, push through certain injuries or niggles. I'm sure Cian's done plenty of that over his long career."
Slipper added that Joe Schmidt's enthusiasm for his return to the Aviva Stadium had rubbed off on the players, who are keen to make up for last weekend's defeat to Scotland.
"He's been pretty excited for this week, hasn't he, old Joe? He's got a great history here and loved the place, and so do we as players, we love playing here," he said. "We always find the fans really good. Off the back of what Tom said, we're more looking at us off the back of the Scotland game.
"We felt we didn't play a good game last week and felt we let ourselves down. Without looking too much into the Ireland game plan, we had to fix our own backyard first. That's been our priority this week.
"There have certainly been a few remarks throughout the week, which makes it interesting. Joe's really excited, and so are we."
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