Return Of The Mack Sparks Ireland Win

Mack Hansen marked his return to the Ireland team with a spectacular hattrick of tries that saw Ireland beat Australia by 46-19.

That is the most points Ireland have scored in a Test match against Australia, and their biggest ever winning margin when playing the Wallabies.

27 points was their previous biggest score – recorded in 1979 and 2016 – and the 27-point winning margin eclipsed the 15-point victories in 1979 and 2006.

Ireland lead 19-14 at half time thanks to Hansen’s triple whammy of scores. Caelan Doris, Ryan Baird and Robbie Henshaw touched down in the second half as Ireland pulled away from the Wallabies.

Speaking after the game Doris said, “Happy with how we started. Fast start. I think they showed their quality with bouncing back in that second quarter.

But how we finished off there, very pleasing. I think you could see the joy in how we played, and the support here was unbelievable as well.

We obviously watched the football on Thursday, and saw how they played with so much passion and got the crowd involved, and we wanted to bring a bit of that today. I think we got some of it there. Mack has been class all week. Obviously challenging coming in not having been in for the last couple of weeks. Straight into the 15 jersey which is an unfamiliar position for him as well.

But top class as you saw. Three tries, took them all nicely, so delighted for him.”