{"id":338534,"date":"2023-10-14T05:55:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-14T05:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=338534"},"modified":"2023-10-14T08:00:42","modified_gmt":"2023-10-14T08:00:42","slug":"the-cult-hero-whos-australias-last-world-cup-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=338534","title":{"rendered":"The 'cult hero' who's Australia's last World Cup hope"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Wallabies<\/a> may have been bundled out of the Rugby World Cup<\/a>, but Australia still has one man left to cheer for.<\/p>\n

Mack Hansen is an honorary Irishman<\/a>. The 25-year-old was born and raised in the capital territory but qualifies to play for Ireland by way of his Cork-born mother \u2013 although you mightn't know that from the handlebar moustache or the thick Australian accent.<\/p>\n

A star on the wing, Hansen played for Australia at under-18 level and went on to represent the Brumbies<\/a> in Super Rugby<\/a> but was snapped up by Connacht to play in the United Rugby Championship.<\/p>\n

Watch all the action from Rugby World Cup 2023 on the home of rugby, Stan Sport.<\/strong><\/em> Every match ad free, live and on demand in 4K UHD<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Now, he's become a bit of a legend on the other side of the planet for his prowess and quirky post-match interviews.<\/p>\n

\"Ireland's<\/p>\n

"I think he's almost cult hero status, even in Ireland," said Stephen Hoiles on Stan Sport's RWC Central.<\/p>\n

"He was a player that was always rated here in Australia. The Brumbies really let a talent go \u2013 but for whatever reason, they just couldn't compete with an offer from Connacht with some Ireland Rugby helping in the background.<\/p>\n

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"He's been fascinating to watch from an Australian point of view. It's a great story. It's a disappointing story as well, but he's been excellent."<\/p>\n

Hansen's spot in the Ireland squad came under a cloud after he suffered a calf strain.<\/p>\n

\"Ireland\u00a0vs\u00a0Scotland<\/p>\n

He's since been confirmed to play in the quarter-final against New Zealand on Sunday at 6am AEDT.<\/p>\n

"When he went off last weekend, I was a bit worried about Ireland's campaign, that's how important he and the other winger, James Lowe, have become in a short space of time," Hoiles added.<\/p>\n

"They haven't brought all these players through from the age of six, it's the systems that has captured them and placed them in positions they need.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"It's a great story watching him play and I hope he has an excellent game. Probably because of the Mack story, that's probably why I'm leaning towards Ireland winning the quarter-final."<\/p>\n

\"'Oh,<\/p>\n

Ireland will be hoping to get the monkey off its back having never gone further than the quarter-finals at any Rugby World Cup.<\/p>\n

As the world No.1 team, it stands to reason that they should break that duck. However, they'll have to beat the three-time world champion All Blacks to do so.<\/p>\n

"It's the first time they'll have ever got through to a World Cup semi-final, which does put a bit of pressure on the Irish," said Hoiles.<\/p>\n

"New Zealand will be loving that. They're experts at World Cups and getting it done, this current group especially. They know how to get to that next stage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"Huge game, battle of the minds, but I lean towards Ireland."<\/p>\n

\"Ireland's<\/p>\n

NEW ZEALAND (15-1):\ufeff<\/strong> Beauden Barrett, Will Jordan, Rieko Ioane, Jordie Barrett, Leicester Fainga'anuku, Richie Mo'unga, Aaron Smith, Ardie Savea, Sam Cane (c), Shannon Frizell, Scott Barrett, Brodie Retallick, Tyrel Lomax, Codie Taylor, Ethan de Groot<\/p>\n

Reserves:<\/strong> Dane Coles, Tamaiti Williams, Fletcher Newell, Sam Whitelock, Dalton Papali'i, Finlay Christie, Damian McKenzie, Anton Lienert-Brown<\/p>\n

\ufeffIRELAND (15-1):<\/strong> Hugo Keenan, Mack Hansen, Garry Ringrose, Bundee Aki, James Lowe, Jonathan Sexton (c), Jamison Gibson-Park, Caelan Doris, Josh van der Flier, Peter O'Mahony, Iain Henderson, Tadhg Beirne, Tadhg Furlong, Dan Sheehan, Andrew Porter<\/p>\n

Reserves:<\/strong> Ronan Kelleher, Dave Kilcoyne, Finlay Bealham, Joe McCarthy, Jack Conan, Conor Murray, Jack Crowley, Jimmy O'Brien<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Wallabies may have been bundled out of the Rugby World Cup, but Australia still has one man left to cheer for. Mack Hansen is […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":338536,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338534"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=338534"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338534\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":338539,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338534\/revisions\/338539"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/338536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=338534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=338534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=338534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}