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Following their previous underwhelming showing against the Japanese team, Andy Farrell told his Irish team to step up their performance.

The team listened immediately.

The Irish side had faded in the final stages against New Zealand and taken most of the match to get going versus their Asian opponents.

Nevertheless, facing the Wallabies, they started strongly, with the talented back excelling brightest during a comprehensive triumph that represented the team's finest performance of the season.

In his first test match appearance at full-back, the player registered a hat-trick, contested brilliantly for aerial challenges and performed outstandingly against the nation of his origin.

"Look, I've had a fairly difficult period with injuries honestly," Hansen stated.

"I missed being in this squad, I know there's much discussion about me not necessarily being born here and I didn't grow up here, but I love this team and this seems like home.

"Whenever I get to play for the national team it's a privilege, if you don't put in a good showing you might not receive that opportunity again.

"My entire focus this period was to go out and perform what I can do."

Coach stated: 'Good players don't need justifications'

Following twenty-eight appearances on the wing, the player was given the number 15 position for the initial time with multiple players unavailable.

For him, it was essentially a matter of continuing where he left off during the summer.

The experienced player had been in superb condition before injury disrupted his dream of making the Test team.

After returned last month, he suffered a lower body injury that made him unavailable for previous matches.

The coach had indicated that the player was particularly motivated and these turned out to be not empty words as the ex- provincial player gave his manager a welcome team headache for upcoming matches.

"So my initial thoughts were, 'You need to perform excellently in those two coloured shoes!'," commented the coach, referring to the player's choice to wear mismatched footwear.

"Actually I believed that was appropriate but apparently Hansen just did that personally anyway. So he's attracted attention to himself before he's even begun.

"I said to him before the match, 'Good players require no excuses, they can perform and just be themselves, you can win the player of the game if you want,' and he responded, 'Yeah, I concur.'

"So he's that type of player, he trains well, he's has a excellent attitude to understand his detail and so that's why he fitted right back in and he was capable to perform naturally due to that."

Hansen's performance also earned commendation from the rival manager, who stated he was the "exceptional Australian player" on the evening.

"In my view he was super, his experience showed to the front," said the ex- international coach.

"Regrettably, Hansen was probably the best Australian performer on the pitch. He's got a excellent ability and he's such a good competitor."

When asked about what makes Hansen a strong option at full-back, the coach continued: "Showing up in the middle of the field is a trait that he demonstrates from the flank anyway, but I suppose he's more in position for that frequently.

"His high ball play was excellent, wasn't it? I thought we persisted of doing the right approach and that was putting the ball back on them to gain territory.

"Why that was the right strategy to do is since it's the players of Mackie who was getting the balls returned, and other players, so [it's] pretty satisfying."

Outside Hansen, there were multiple encouraging aspects for Farrell.

Sam Prendergast was outstanding on his return to the fly-half position, the set piece and line-out functioned smoothly and another teammate did not appear out of place in his debut appearance in the front row.

But perhaps most pleasing for Farrell was the team bookending the match with two impressive spells.

Hansen's first two tries came in the opening 11 moments while other teammates registered in the final stages after the other team had scored, ensuring the home team concluded on a high.

"In my opinion we truly let ourselves go and attacked the match straight from the word go," stated Farrell.

"How we managed various aspects during the match, especially the opposition responding just before half-time and reorganizing ourselves and producing a performance like we did in the later stages, I believed as far as territory and being familiar with the majority of our strategy in that second half was truly pleasing."

The strength of the Springboks are next up for the team, in what might be viewed as an unofficial conclusion to the previous season's tied two-Test contest on rival soil.

Farrell's side will need to attain another standard to beat the back-to-back world champions, but Saturday's defeat of the Australian team was a significant step in the right path after an uninspiring start to their autumn schedule.