Mack Hansen proud of his war wound and improved breakdown skills

By rights, it should have come with a Government health warning, or at least an advisory note to suggest the picture should only be viewed on an empty stomach.

True to type, Mack Hansen revelled in his war wound following Connacht’s 15-10 win away to Ulster last Friday, and joked that his “model career was on hold” after showing a graphic image of the gaping wound on his Instagram account.

Still sporting his war wound on Monday when he spoke to the media, Hansen admitted: “People were asking why I posted it and to be fair, I don’t really know why. I thought it was kind of cool for people to see. I know when I see things like that, I’m like, ‘Oh, Jesus!’.”

Hansen suffered the gaping wound after a clash of heads with team-mate John Porch, also Aussie-born, and missed the last 13 minutes of the first-half, before eventually reappearing after the interval with his head swathed in bandages.

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“I really didn’t know what was going on. It wasn’t that I was concussed or anything but it was just a really, really deep sting. It just stung heaps, like I got stung by a couple of bees; I don’t really know if that’s the best way to describe it.

“Then I felt blood coming down and it wasn’t until they took my headgear off and the three doctors were like, ‘Oh, Jesus’. And I was like, ‘that can’t be great’.

[ Andy Friend thrilled with Connacht’s win in Belfast but feels Dan McFarland’s pain ]

“They asked did I want to take a photo and I said yeah, and when they took it I was like, ‘Oh, show us the photo’ and they were like, ‘we’ll show you after the game’.

“I understand why now because it was a deep sting, a deep cut. John Porch has a hard head, he’s come off unscathed. He’s already ugly enough so he didn’t really need another!”

Even so, it didn’t stop him putting his head in where it hurts after a try-saving tackle on Rob Baloucoune by working to the next ruck and winning a vital turnover penalty – not something he grew up doing in Canberra.

“It’s something I really worked on in the last Irish camp, working with the coaches up there and getting my breakdown skills a lot better.

“I saw a lot of wingers starting to do, especially Gabin Villiere from France. He was just so effective and won so many balls on the edge, and I thought: ‘why can’t I make it a skill of mine?’

“So, I’ve been practising those for a good while and I try to make sure it’s one of my musts through the week and it seems to be paying off, which is handy.”

After Friday’s game, Hansen and Andy Friend could be seen having a face time call with his parents in Canberra.

“Him and mum, they’ll tell me if I’ve played like shit or if I’ve played all right. I find they’re pretty good to give an honest review. That’s why I enjoy calling them after to see what they thought and that one was thankfully one to enjoy.

“Andy happened to walk past and we were just talking about how tough a game it was, and I was showing off my scar. Just enjoying it, it was some feeling for sure.”

At times he may come across as daft as a brush. But Hansen’s refreshingly irreverent sky-is-the-limit mindset typifies Connacht’s increasingly confident and fearless approach.

So it is that he says of last Friday’s performance: “It’s what we want to build on here in Connacht and make that a non-negotiable throughout the whole team. We just gave it everything we had for the full 80.

“On the flip side of that our attack was bang average,” Hansen freely admitted. “I think it was the first time we haven’t scored a try in God knows how long, but it gives us plenty to work on which is exciting coming into this Stormers week.

“We’re excited to get over there and try to do the same thing again,” he added in reference to how Connacht sought to frustrate home team and crowd alike in the Kinspan Stadium, and with some success too.

“We knew that putting pressure on in the right areas was important, especially up there. Their fans were going nuts the whole time. Every little point could quieten them down a little bit.”

A travelling squad of 28, included all 23 on duty in Belfast, will fly out on Tuesday evening, arriving on Wednesday, in Cape Town ahead of Saturday’s semi-final against the Stormers in the DHL Stadium (kick-off 4pm local/3pm Irish).

“We’ll get through our detail this week, what we want to do against the Stormers. but there’s going to be a couple of days when we’re just chilling out in Cape Town, enjoying the sun and the beaches maybe. But when it’s time to switch on we’re very good at that.”

Hansen has spoken to enough people in Galway and Connacht to appreciate that the province’s 2016 Pro12 title success was “a bit of a fairy-tale”.

With this team now within one game of reaching the URC final and so creating the possibility of emulating the John Muldoon-led side, Hansen said: “It’s why you play footy, at the end of the day it’s to win things and the guys in that team are legends here for life. That’s what we want to do, we want to be here and to be remembered as a group as well.

“We’ve still everything to play for and we’re absolutely pumped to have this game in South Africa as well. We’ll get the job done however we can.”