No return in sight for Connacht Rugby star Mack Hansen
MACK Hansen has been ruled out of Ireland’s summer trip to Australia and New Zealand for the inaugural Nations Championship.
The winger has been out of action since December when he underwent surgery for a troublesome foot injury.
Connacht have extended their season with a remarkable run of eight wins in nine games to reach the URC quarter-finals but head coach Stuart Lancaster said there is no chance of Hansen making it back even if they went all the way to the final.
And he confirmed that Hansen is not being considered for the summer tour to Australia and New Zealand and that the best scenario is to have Hansen back for pre-season duty.
Ireland will play the Wallabies and Japan in Australia in July before going to Auckland to take on New Zealand in the inaugural Nations Championship but while quite a few Connacht players are likely to be selected, Hansen won’t be one of them.
“Yeah, he's ruled out. He’s running now, up and down the pitch, but he's not running around with a rugby ball in his hand,” said Lancaster.
“So hopefully he's going to come back into pre-season. He's still got a lot of sort of markers to hit and boxes to tick but he's definitely moving in the right direction.
“He's very positive about everything, it's a coordinated relationship with Ireland and the Ireland medical team and the physio teams and everything, so it's, it's all on plan, all on track, and yeah, there's no reason why Mack shouldn't come back a better player.”
Lancaster has only had Hansen, who has scored 12 tries in 30 Irish appearances, available for one match this season since he took charge in the summer, the game against the Bulls when the injury flared up.
Connacht fans will hope that the 28-year-old will enjoy a lengthy injury-free run with injuries and international duty having curtailed his appearances for the province.
Hansen, now at the end of his fifth season in Galway, has made a total of 42 appearances for Connacht, scoring 14 tries in the process.
He played 14 games in each of his first two seasons at the Sportsground but in the past three years has featured in four, nine and one games.