Mack Hansen has fond memories of Wales, and for good reason.
Twelve months ago, the Connacht wing was handed his debut against the Welsh in the opening round of the Guinness Six Nations at the Aviva Stadium, and while he didn't get on the scoresheet, his contribution was significant enough for him to be named Player of the Match.
It says a lot for the 24-year-old's ascension in rugby that when he was named on the right wing for Saturday's game against Wales, for what will be his 10th Test cap, his inclusion had barely been debated.
"Yeah, Test rugby stuff's easy, isn't it!?", he jokes, when asked about his rapid rise through the game in Ireland, arriving in Connacht as a relative unknown in the summer of 2021 to become an instant favourite with the province.
The Irish rugby public warmed to him instantly, and not just for what he was doing on the pitch. Off the field, his laidback, unassuming nature is an unusual one for international sportspeople.
Even when laced with sarcasm, his reference to Test rugby being "easy" is one the majority of players in the Irish squad wouldn't dare utter in public, for fear it would be pinned to a dressing room wall. And even if it was, you get the feeling it wouldn't bother Hansen.
That's not to say he's undaunted by what the game has to offer.
A week after his debut against Wales, he started on the wing against France, and while he scored a memorable individual try in Ireland's 30-24 defeat, he admits to being slightly overawed in the hopping 81,000 Stade de France. And he's hoping that stands him in good stead for what is likely to be a raucous Principality Stadium this weekend.
"I'm not going to lie, it was a little shock to the system. I'd never really played in front of anything like that before, they were just bouncing around the whole time, screaming at the top of their lungs, you don't know what they're saying. I think it will be a lot like Cardiff as well, even though they speak English.
"But we learned a lot from that game, for sure. A lot of the guys put their hand up and said that it shocked a lot of us, so it's something that we've been working on and I don't think it gets much bigger than playing there in Cardiff.
"I've heard plenty of stories from multiple people, from Ireland camps, from Australian camps, from everywhere and they say it's an unbelievable place to play. It's some stadium and I'm excited for it."
Behind the laid back character, there is clearly a competitor.
"As soon as you let up, you're going to lose your spot and everyone knows that, we’ve got such good depth.
"Some of the guys who are going to miss out this week have been playing class and have been nominated for European Player of the Year and have been in the past as well. So there’s no room to ease up which is good because it keeps you on your game for sure."
And while he grabbed headlines in his first season, nominated for World Rugby's Breakthrough Player of the Year award, he's keeping his feet on the ground.
"The guys in here are just so good that you can find that it can almost be hard to have a bad game.
"We're pretty switched on and we know what we need to do and we’re pretty good at sticking to our game plan. We’re given all the tools to play a good game, and if not a good game, a solid game at worst.
"But now that we’re all starting to really gel, we’re knowing what someone is going to do before they do it, we’re getting to that stage which is where we want to be heading into the Six Nations."
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