Lions wing Mack Hansen has little patience for individuals who make light of the number of Southern Hemisphere players on the 2025 tour Down Under.
Hansen will miss the opening Test against the Wallabies due to a foot injury sustained in last weekend’s 48-0 defeat of an AUNZ Invitational XV. He was unable to participate in the squad’s first full-day training session of the week on Tuesday, which knocked him out of selection contention.
While Hansen is not in the first Test, four Southern Hemisphere-born players – James Lowe, Sione Tuipulotu, Bundee Aki, and Jamison Gibson-Park – are in the squad.
Jibes about the quantity of Southern Hemisphere players in the 2025 Lions vintage have been a near-constant refrain throughout the trip. And it’s not just the Australian press corps. Lions legend Willie John McBride claimed it “bothered” him and recommended renaming the Lions, while England halfback and podcaster Danny Care said it “doesn’t sit well with me.”
Players have respectfully declined queries about the subject throughout the tour, but it is not the first time many of them have encountered this line of questioning.
Last year, Hansen was asked about his thoughts after a UK broadsheet journalist mocked rugby’s eligibility rules and questioned the Irishness of Ireland’s Southern Hemisphere contingent.
“Everyone’s allowed to their opinion,” Hansen told RugbyPass, “but I felt it was a very foolish comment. Would you say James Lowe is as Irish as a Shamrock Shake? Lowey has resided here for several years. He’s had a child here and accomplished so much.
“This is not just him; this is Jamo (Gibson-Park), Bundee, and Finlay (Bealham). This is me, and it is everyone… I am sure it is the same in every other location. They give all to this country, both on and off the field. Many of those guys are involved in charitable work and community service.
“I believe that’s why people have taken to them, because they’re not only good on the field, but also off it. Everyone has just really bought into it.
“It was a stupid comment,” Hansen insisted, “when [the journalist] obviously has no idea on the amount of pleasure these guys bring to this country and what they do for it.”
South African-born prop Pierre Schoeman, who appeared five times for the Junior Boks in 2014, echoed this sentiment.
“If you’re good enough to play for your country, you’re good enough to play for the Lions and you’re selected, then obviously you’re going to do that,” according to Schoeman.
“Playing for the Lions is a huge deal. Scotland is home for my wife and me. I know that applies to the other players as well, such as Mack Hansen, who has made Ireland his home.
“You embrace it. You totally accept that. It’s similar to the series Outlander: you relocate to a new nation and now that’s your home. You live there.
“If you work for one of the big four in finance and are given the opportunity, you will take it. You can really make that home.
“But this is very different. To represent the British and Irish Lions, you must thoroughly embrace the organization’s culture. You really immerse yourself in that. Nothing else matters. Not your past or future. It’s about the present.
“Yesterday is gone forever, and tomorrow may never come; now is the time to live. That is what we do as Lions. This tour is focused on the present moment. This is what truly matters.
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