'Refreshed' Hansen acting like he belongs in Test rugby

Just under eight weeks ago, Mack Hansen had no problems admitting he was as surprised as anybody at his rapid rise to Test rugby.

Honeymoons in international rugby are short, and he's now aware he's expected to act like he belongs.

Having been thrown in at the deep end for Ireland's opening three matches, he rotated out of the team for the trip to Twickenham with Andrew Conway returning on the right wing.

And while Conway was one of Ireland's top performers in the bonus point win away to England, a knee injury has brought the Connacht man back in for today's finale against Scotland.

Head coach Andy Farrell remarked during the week about how the Canberra native is continuing to learn on the job when it comes to Test rugby. And the 23-year-old is inclined to agree.

"At the start of the year I didn't expect to be in the mix at all so any game that I was playing was going to be super special for me," Hansen said this week.

"To have that week off actually did give me more time to reflect on, and just know what I have to do week-in and week-out.

"I looked back at how I prepared the first couple of weeks and what was working for me and what wasn't. I feel like it has refreshed me a little bit as well."

He clarifies by saying he wasn't coasting through those first weeks of camp, but rather that he's become more and more aware of the small extra bits of preparation that go into Six Nations rugby.

"It was just all the after-training type stuff, getting a bit more high ball, getting a bit more tracking in, stuff like that throughout the week so that when I come to captain's run and game day I am 100% ready to go.

"I think I started off doing it really well and not by any means took it easy or anything, but I think I just know now what