One of the biggest absences from Ireland's Six Nations triumph was the injured Mack Hansen.
The Connacht wing has been a crucial part of Andy Farrell's Irish side since making his Six Nations debut in 2022 but missed the entirety of this year's tournament after picking up a nasty shoulder injury in a January URC game against Munster.
Hansen was in attendance for Ireland's first home game of the tournament - in classic fashion, wearing a jersey poking fun at his recently-retired teammate Johnny Sexton. Despite his fun-loving character shining through in that appearance, Hansen later revealed that he had found cheering on Ireland from afar to be a difficult experience.
It seems that the feeling was mutual, as Hansen revealed this week the lengths Ireland head coach Andy Farrell had gone to in an attempt to bring him to the post-tournament session.
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Mack Hansen shares brilliant Andy Farrell story from last Six Nations weekend
Appearing on the Kick Offs and Kick Ons podcast with Aussie rugby legends Drew Mitchell, Adam Ashley-Cooper and Matt Giteau this week, Mack Hansen said that he had not heard too much from the Irish squad in the aftermath of their Six Nations triumph.
Hansen has been tied up with physio rehabilitation to get his shoulder back to full fitness and said that he had an appointment to continue to recover this Monday.
Despite this, he revealed that Andy Farrell had made a hilarious offer to help him pull a sickie and attend the post-tournament piss-up:
I tried to distance myself.
Faz...I was up there during the week. Faz was telling me to come up to the games and then come to the piss-up on Sunday but I told him, 'I have rehab on Monday, I can't.'
He said, 'oh, don't worry, I'll call your physio and we'll get that off for you.' I pretty much had to go in!
I'd say it was wild enough. But no missed calls...yet. Today is normally the big one.
It's easy to see now why Andy Farrell is such a popular figure with this Irish squad.
As Hansen appeared to hint at, last year's celebrations rolled on for several days after the Grand Slam was secured against England.
The party was still going by Tuesday last year, with the entire squad rocking up to Garry Ringrose's house to continue the boozing. Perhaps Hansen has finally gotten a chance to nip down and join them since then.
Despite missing out on Ireland's Six Nations celebrations, Hansen said that he had witnessed the chaos of Sunday - St. Patrick's Day - while out and about:
Town was jammed as well [on St. Patrick's Day]. Everyone was on it by about 9 o'clock. I was getting a coffee at about 11 and there were people stumbling around.
Thankfully, Hansen confirmed that his rehab has progressed quicker than expected and that Connacht fans can hope to see him again before the season's end.
[Rehab] is ahead of schedule. I don't think I'm going to rush back but, yeah, aiming towards the Munster game on the 11th of May. Still got a little while to go but it's going good.
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