'It's everything we've been working for' - Mack Hansen

When Mack Hansen lines out at the Stade de France on Saturday, it'll be one day shy of two years since the Australia native made his first appearance in a Connacht shirt.

The opening game of the 2021/22 BKT United Rugby Championship saw Connacht travel to Cardiff on 23 September 2021, with Andy Friend handing a debut on the left wing to their new signing from the Brumbies.

It was an inauspicious start from the debutant, yellow-carded on 68 minutes after cynically taking out Owen Lane, and Connacht would go on to lose 33-21. On first glance, he didn't look like an Ireland international in-waiting.

A week later, the real Mack Hansen announced himself at the Sportsground with a stunning breakaway try and followed it up with another a week later versus the Dragons. When he terrorised Ulster at the Aviva Stadium a few weeks after that he was up to four tries in five games, and Andy Farrell had taken note.

The Ireland coach brought him into camp for a look during the Autumn Nations Series in 2021, and clearly liked what he saw, handing him a debut in the Six Nations opener in 2022 against Wales. He was player of the match that afternoon, and a week later scored a spectacular try from a kick-off against France in Paris.

He was a still a relative unknown to the wider rugby world back then, but when he returns to the Stade de France on Saturday for the World Cup Pool B meeting with South Africa, he'll do so as one of the most recognisable faces in the game.

"It's probably everything you dream of when you’re growing up, playing in these sorts of games, you don’t know if it’s ever going to happen," he says ahead of tomorrow's meeting with the Springboks.

The 25-year-old's fit into the Irish system has been seamless.

Whether he's in the