Twelve years ago, during the Lions’ last visit to Australia, Mack Hansen was in the crowd with his family as the Brumbies pulled off a monumental upset by defeating the renowned visitors in Canberra.

This experience has taught the Ireland wing about the potential challenges awaiting the British and Irish squad in the upcoming weeks as they strive to defeat all challengers and build strong momentum for the Test series against the Wallabies. He is well aware that their opponents will be determined to outshine a formidable four-nation coalition to secure their place in rugby history by capturing one of the sport’s most coveted prizes.

The Lions’ quest for excellence begins at Optus Stadium on Saturday against Western Force. Although they stumbled in their preliminary match against Argentina in Dublin, marking an imperfect start to their 2025 journey, they are focused on achieving a flawless record in Australia. Ireland centre Bundee Aki shared that head coach Andy Farrell issued a challenge: to win every match. Despite the setback against the Pumas, now that the team is on tour, their aim is a perfect nine-game sweep.

But Hansen made no bones about the fact that the Lions should be burdened by expectation here then over on the east coast, for the remaining tour games and Tests. Given the resources at their disposal — the sheer depth of talent available to Farrell across the board, well supported and funded — the tourists have to accept the demand for relentless success.

‘If you put the jersey on, we’re four of the best teams in the world, so the expectation is to win regardless of who you’re playing,’ he said. ‘If you have some of the best players in the world, you should be winning every time, so every time it’s a loss, it just isn’t good enough.

‘We know that and as disappointed as we were (after the 28-24 defeat against Argentina), we don’t want to feel that again. If anything, it’s good to feel it early. We know we’ll get our heads absolutely chewed off if it happens again, so the plan is to win from here on out. If you get the opportunity to be on this tour and play in the red jersey, you should be winning games.’

The first outing since the Lions arrived here last Sunday will pit them against six Force players who will join up with the Wallabies after this encounter — Nic White, Ben Donaldson, Darcy Swain, Tom Robertson, Dylan Pietsch and Nick Champion de Crespigny. Next up, Farrell’s side will travel to Brisbane to take on the Reds, who will also be bolstered by Australia players who have been cleared to represent their franchise team.

This trip started with Lions chief executive Ben Calveley demanding that Wallabies head coach Joe Schmidt releases members of his squad to take part in the tour games. Time will tell whether that request — and associated warning about adhering to the tour agreement — comes back to bite him and the Lions. The phrase ‘be careful what you wish for’ may just spring to mind in due course.

While there is considerable, understandable expectation on the Lions to swat aside these provincial opponents, sometimes that doesn’t happen. While upsets are rare, Hansen was present for the last one in this country, as his home-town Brumbies beat Warren Gatland’s visitors 14-12. It didn’t halt the Lions’ charge towards a Test series victory, but it was a result which reverberated nonetheless — earning the victors vast acclaim and, in some cases, international honours.

‘On the last Lions tour, I was at the Brumbies game and the Brumbies beat them (Lions),’ said Hansen. ‘I was with my dad and my brother. We were sitting behind the goalposts watching. It was mad. You don’t expect anyone to actually do it  but I talked to guys after and they’d been pumped up for the game for weeks.

‘They saw it as the be-all and end-all. Also, guys are playing to get into the Wallabies, so there’s a lot on the line for a lot of these teams. When you come up against a big team like us, those (opposition) guys will definitely be up for that. They’ve only got one game then they’re on holiday, all these teams, as well.

‘I don’t think any of the games are going to be easy. Everyone wants to win. We’re not playing the Force this week with them saying, “Alright boys, let’s go out and lose by 40”. They’ll be coming out thinking: “We can cause an upset”. Things do happen. We are not taking anyone lightly.’

Frankly, the Lions should win with plenty of room to spare on Saturday, although perhaps not by 40 points. Farrell knows that the home team have proved their resilience, despite a challenging Super Rugby campaign. ‘They had nine losing bonus points this year, which says it all really, that they don’t go away,’ he said.

As ever on these tours, selection sub-plots will ensure there is no shortage of individual motivation for the Lions players, even if there might still be a shortage of collective cohesion. They all know the clock is ticking towards the deadline to make a case for Test inclusion, ahead of the Test series opener in Brisbane on July 19.

The next fixture against the Reds looms as a tough assignment, as does the clash with the Brumbies seven days later. In between, the Waratahs appear more beatable in Sydney and the Australia-New Zealand invitational side cobbled together to face the Lions in Adelaide could struggle to compete.

On that basis, Farrell could be planning to deploy his strongest side for the next two midweek matches, which means the players on duty on Saturday are under pressure to force their way into that rotation. The likes of captain Dan Sheehan, Tadhg Beirne, Finn Russell, Sione Tuipulotu and James Lowe are among those capable of earning that promotional shift.

Wherever and whenever they feature, the target is the same. Keep winning. Nine out of nine.