In an alternate world, Mack Hansen could very well be preparing to play against Ireland this week, rather than for them.
"The one that got away", according to his former Brumbies coach Dan McKellar, who is now forwards coach with the Wallabies, Hansen looks set to line out against the country of his birth this Saturday when the sides meet at the Aviva Stadium.
By now, Hansen's story has been well told, the potted history being that the Irish-qualified wing was plucked from Australia by Andy Friend at Connacht, after a recommendation from Friend's son, who worked at a Canberra bar where Hansen would often frequent.
The Connacht boss confirmed yesterday that he'd be stepping down at the end of the season, following five years in charge of the western province.
And Hansen says he owes a lot of his recent success to his fellow Canberra native.
"He took a good gamble on me," Hansen says.
"When he first got onto me, I wasn't playing too much. I think he just... I guess Connacht just give blokes a crack, and hope they can kick on.
"I'm going to miss Andy and [his wife] Kerri a load but he'll be leaving Connacht in a good place anyway.
"It's definitely time for him to go home, as much as I've talked to him, his kids are starting to have kids and all that, so it's time for him to settle down and be a grandpa back home."
Since arriving in Galway last summer, Hansen's career has taken off. Already a cult-hero at Connacht, he's made an instant impact on the Test scene, with eight caps since making his debut in the 2022 Six Nations, scoring three tries, two of which have come in his last two games.
Alongside Dan Sheehan, he's nominated for World Rugby's Breakthrough Player of the Year award, and will cap off a dream 2022 when he comes up against his home country this Saturday.
And having already signed a contract extension to keep him in Galway until at least 2025, he says he has absolutely no regrets about leaving Australia last year.
"Since I made my decision there have been no thoughts of back tracking at all. I'm very happy where I am," he says.
"I guess you could think what could have been with anything, so no, the decision to play for Ireland has been the best decision of my career and my life. I'm loving it over here and enjoying it. I haven’t had too many thoughts about that to be honest.
"It is still nice to hear from your peers and people back home but not once have I been upset or kind of thought what if, if I stayed there or made the move [home]."
The 24-year-old qualified for Ireland through his Cork-born mother, with some of that Irish family due to be at the Aviva this Saturday.
He's keen to play down the occasion, but admits it will be special to go up against his "fantastic mates" from the Brumbies, 14 of whom are in the current Wallabies squad.
And he says he expects plenty of sledging to come his way.
"Ah, they can't sledge for s**t! [Nic] Whitey will be chirpy like always, but the rest of them aren't very witty or smart," he jokes.
"That's what the whole game is about. It's about going to war on the field and then afterwards just being able to have a laugh about it and be able to enjoy a quiet beer or two.
"I'm looking forward to it. It's going to be really cool. I haven't played any of these before and a lot of them are good friends of mine. I haven't really done that in a long time, so it's going to be a great experience."
He's confident the occasion won't get the better of him. Having come up against New Zealand, South Africa and France in his short Test career to date, he says he's learned how to deal with the pressure situations.
And although he says he plans to treat it as "just another game", he says the national anthems before the game might be a surreal experience.
"I guess it's just something I’ll have to experience when it happens. I haven’t thought about it too much.
"I’m still trying to learn the Irish one. If the camera can get to me at the start, I sing from the start and then just kind of fade away at the end," he adds.
Away from the occasion, the Connacht wing says Ireland have been brought right back down to earth after Saturday's 35-17 win against Fiji.
Hansen scored one of Ireland's tries in the win against Vern Cotter's side, and while they never looked like losing to the Pacific islanders, he says head coach Andy Farrell was not impressed in his post-game review.
"It wasn't very positive, to be honest, not at all. As you would think.
"Like, they were down to 13 players at one time and realistically, if a team is down to 13 you should be putting a good score on them. For us not to take advantage of that, I don’t think we scored at all while they were down to 13 and they might have scored.
"To not take advantage of things like that, things aren’t going to go too well for us come Six Nations and World Cup [if that is repeated].
"It was a pretty disappointing performance. We know that and there is a lot to work on, but we can use it to hopefully try and get one over Australia this week."
And with Australia coming to Dublin with a point to prove, Hansen says they have to be wary of the wounded Wallaby.
"If they came in undefeated there would be a lot of pressure on them coming up against us, with talk of the whole Grand Slam and stuff like that. They are such a dangerous team as it is.
"Last week just wasn't their week, but they have such world-class players that, having lost that, that’s definitely going to have blown smoke up their a**, and they will be coming out with all guns blazing.
"We know that and we’re ready for that. It’s going to be a cracking game."
Follow a live blog of Ireland v Australia on RTÉ.ie/sport and RTÉ News app this Saturday from 8pm with live radio commentary on RTÉ Radio 1.
