Had it not been for his unmistakable white scrumcap, you might have struggled to recognise Mack Hansen at the Sportsground on Saturday night.
A new year has brought a new look, and a first trip to the barbershop for two years. The shoulder-length Tarzan locks are gone, replaced with short back and sides, while the beard has also been skinned, making him look even younger than his 24 years would suggest.
There will be bigger stories in this World Cup year than 'man gets haircut', but as Hansen explains, there was a significance to the streamlining.
"I wasn't happy with how I was playing, I felt like I was in a bit of a rut so I blamed it on the hair," he says, after helping Connacht to a bonus-point 24-12 win against the Sharks on Saturday.
"It's the new me! It was just time to get rid of it."
Hansen wasn't the only one at the Sportsground with a noteworthy haircut, as 21-year-old lock Darragh Murray cut off his already iconic mullet after the game to help provide wigs for children undergoing cancer treatment, as well as raising more than €12,000 for LauraLynn Ireland's Children's Hospice.
The mullet is no more! ✂️
— Connacht Rugby (@connachtrugby) January 7, 2023
And thanks to your incredible generosity over €9,000 has been raised 💚
Well done Darragh Murray. A great player and an even better person 👏
Donate to @LauraLynnHouse and @MayoRoscHospice at https://t.co/qPCdjNUqje pic.twitter.com/Mau7OC6D8z
And Hansen said he'll make sure to follow Murray's lead next time, even if it takes another two years.
The Ireland international was his usual laid-back self, but spoke seriously about his own form.
Five tries in 11 games for club and country seems a reasonable return for this campaign so far, as well as putting to bed the idea that the winger was just a 'one season wonder' after his move from Australia 18 months ago.
If he was frustrated at his own form, he'll likely feel better about things after the win against the Sharks on Saturday. He didn't score, but his delicate chip created the province's second try of the night, while some brilliant work down the left wing almost led to another score, only for a knock-on by Tom Farrell.
With a Six Nations squad to be named in the coming weeks, it would be a huge surprise to see Hansen excluded, even if the player is trying to keep his feet on the ground, hoping to make an impression in the coming Challenge Cup games against Brive and Newcastle.
"I haven't been very happy with how I'm playing over the last couple of weeks," he added.
"I’m just fully focused on playing some good footie here, and trying to put my name forward. I don’t think it has been to the standard that I kind of hold to myself so this game was a step in the right direction, less mistakes and what not but these games I just want to focus on playing well and if I play well then that leads into a Six Nations call-up.
"Any game you get the opportunity to get to take the field is an opportunity to play well. I think it would be kind of childish of me to take it that I was in that Six Nations thing.
"If I took the easy approach to it, it would actually hinder me, so I'm not thinking about that. If I’m playing good footie then the rest will take care of itself. That’s what I’m focused on."
While he hadn't been pleased with life on the pitch in recent weeks, Hansen is loving life off of it, revealing he's now firmly planted his roots in Galway by buying a house in the area.
"It's my new home, I’m really enjoying Galway. Like, all of my teammates are such close friends now. Actually, I just bought a place here, so I’m settled in for the long haul. I love it, it’s a great place to get round.
"The lads have been giving me a fair bit of stick about my haircut but all the fans were saying, 'I love your haircut.’ It’s great, everyone is so nice, compared to my team-mates!
"It’s great, everyone is just so friendly, not afraid to chat to you, or come up to now, which I actually enjoy. Yeah, it’s great."
While the province does not return to Challenge Cup action until the end of the month when they welcome the Lions to the Sportsground, their win against the Sharks brings them within five points of the playoffs with six games of the regular season remaining.
And while they still look like outsiders to get back into the top eight before the end of the season, Hansen says they're more than happy to embrace life as the underdogs.
"So the win definitely takes a bit of pressure off but we still have got eight [six URC and minimum two Challenge Cup] very important games coming up. We have got the Irish teams out of the way, we have South Africa out of the way, so it is very doable.
"I think I saw somewhere where we are 9% to make the finals so if everyone has that attitude towards us we think we are more than capable to make this up and we are going to be pushing right to the end.
"We have done the hard yards, not everything went our way unfortunately but in saying that the games that are going to be coming up are not going to be easy by any means. You have still got to play well against any team in this competition. We will take it in our stride and go from there."
