Hansen insists all the focus will be on Leinster in tonight’s Champions Cup clash on College Road

If you were of a mind to trawl through press conferences during a season to try and find the quote of the year, then you can end that search right now because you will be hard pushed to find a better gem than the one delivered by Mack Hansen this week.

Connacht’s new star further enhanced his cult hero status when asked what kind of approach the clear underdogs would take going into the first leg of their Champions Cup Last 16 clash with Leinster tonight.

“The pressure is all on Leinster, there is no pressure on us at all, we just have to go out and play our game, which is fantastic,” he said, before delivering the killer line: “Those blokes [Leinster] to be honest, they should probably be shitting themselves a little bit with the expectation that they are just going to roll us, that is perfect for us, hopefully the occasion can get to them a little.”

It wasn’t said to be reactionary, it wasn’t said to be course, it was just an honest opinion from a man who has taken to life in the Sportsground as if he were to the manor born.

It is just shy of a year since Connacht announced the signings of Hansen from the Brumbies in Australia in late April 2021; and just over six months since he made his debut away to Cardiff in the opening game of the season.

He has played just 10 times for Connacht in his first season at the club, but for a great reason – such has been his form with Connacht, he earned a call-up to the Ireland Six Nations squad, ensuring his impact was felt both at international and club level.

It feels like he has been around a lot longer, and he certainly speaks like a man who knows his Sportsground history, and especially the role the elements can play on match day at the College Road venue.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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