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 exactly I have to do to get myself ready, and I had another week when I wasn’t playing to get that extra practice or have more time in the gym.
"I kind of realised that I should be doing this week in and week out anyway and so it has ended up being a good thing for me."
The story of his move to Connacht has been well-told by now, having grown to know Andy Friend's son in a Canberra bar.
Despite some good showings with the Brumbies in Super Rugby, he viewed a career in the game as a chance to explore, and ride that wave wherever it would take him.
It took him to Galway, where he was a near-instant success, and after a yellow card on his debut in a URC defeat to Cardiff, he announced himself to the Sportsground with a try for the ages against the Bulls.
That was the day he knew he belonged.
"I’ll be honest with you mate, it wasn’t really until last year that it was a big thing in my mind to play international rugby. I always wanted to travel around the world and play in as many countries as I could and just get the most out of footy.
"People always say that stuff but I genuinely do mean it. All the lads here are great fellas and it has been good in that when we are on we’re on and when we get back to the hotel they do give us a lot of time to chill out and just get away from footy that little bit.
"I just wanted to see as much as I could and get the most out of footy, but I've realised that international footy pretty much does that for you for free.
"I've already been to France, went to England and I've never been to England before, so it does take you around many, many places in the world and you just get to do it with a huge group of blokes and it doesn't get much more fun than that.
"Ever since I left school, club rugby, I was fine but I just felt I was really kicking on that extra step at Brumbies.
"Once I got a bit more time at Brumbies, I got an opportunity to show what I can do and maybe realised I am good enough to get there. The next step for me was coming over here and I just thought I'm going to give it everything I got and play my style of footie. And if works out it does, and if it doesn’t, it doesn’t. So it was definitely a little bit of self belief.
"But I think the extra step was maybe my second game against Bulls, I just felt like it was kind of a last chance so I was just going out and going to leave everything out there and ended up panning out for me. It just took off from there," he added.
On just his fourth cap, Hansen could also get his hands on a trophy, with the Six Nations title a feint possibility.
A win against Scotland would guarantee some silverware with the consolation of a Triple Crown, and a first trophy for Ireland since 2018.
"Oh, it would be amazing.
"It would be great for Irish rugby as well, especially leading into a World Cup year.
"Everyone is talking about it but we still have a championship on the line, we've still got a lot of stuff to do. All we can really do is play a good game against Scotland, get as many points as we can and focus on this.
"Whether France win or not we still have a Triple Crown on the line and that's going to be a huge achievement.
If we get the win then we've done our job and we've done as much as we can. Definitely watching with intent but I'm sure we'll be in the changing room having a few beers, enjoying each other's company after a long couple of months.
"Yeah, we'll see how it all pans out."
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