'Was he a naughty boy? He definitely wasn't' — Andy Farrell dismisses Mack Hansen discipline rumours

The Ireland wing agreed: 'We had a five-minute tiff'

DOUBLE ACT: Mack Hansen and Peter O’Mahony address the media. Picture: INPHO/Dan Sheridan

Andy Farrell has given short shrift to the notion Mack Hansen had been left out of Ireland’s original matchday squad for the opening pool game against Romania last weekend due to disciplinary reasons.

The head coach had initially omitted the first-choice wing from an otherwise full-strength backline for the Pool B opener in Bordeaux last Saturday, starting Keith Earls instead. Yet when replacement Robbie Henshaw was withdrawn as a precautionary measure, Hansen was promoted to the bench to provide outside back cover and the Connacht man played the final 21 minutes of the 82-8 rout.

Yesterday, as the team arrived in Nantes for Saturday night’s clash with Tonga, Farrell included Hansen on the right wing of his starting line-up with Henshaw back at number 23, though he was asked why the wing had been omitted seven days earlier.

"Was it you who kept on asking the question last week? Where the hell did all that come from?” Farrell fired back at the reporter who had raised the issue.

"Left out of the 23? No. Anyway... carry on."

The Ireland boss then explained the reason for Hansen’s initial omission.

"Because we wanted to give someone else a game, as simple as that. And case in point, actually, as far as everyone being ready to go, it's exactly the same this weekend.

"So if Robbie pulls up on Friday and Mack is covering three different positions off the bench and did superbly for that, that's the type of thing that needs to happen within a World Cup.

"Mack's up next so you can ask him the question as well was he a naughty boy, he definitely wasn't!” 

Hansen did follow Farrell and captain Johnny Sexton into the interview room for the next press conference, alongside Peter O’Mahony and another journalist picked up the baton, at which point the back rower intervened.

“Did Andy not just answer a question about this a second ago?” O’Mahony asked the reporter, before the Ireland press officer put a stop to the line of questioning, adding: “It was a rumour and an incorrect fact. We' can't keep on going over it, it's not fair to ask Mack.” 

Hansen had the last laugh, though, chipping in: “We had a five-minute tiff or whatever and we're fine now, so it's all good!” 

The Australian-born wing with a mother from Castlemartyr in County Cork was in fine form and when asked whether any family and friends had travelled to France from Australia to be at the World Cup, Hansen said: “A lot of my mates are over at the moment, so it's tough getting Snapchats of them smoking vapes and drinking beers at 12 in the morning while I'm trying to prepare for a game but it's good craic.

“It's good fun to see and it will be good to catch up with them and I guess it's actually been nice getting that aspect outside of playing and seeing how a World Cup means to people. People have been planning for this for the last four years and to see everybody really enjoying themselves is great.” 

Hansen looked to be enjoying himself last Saturday at Stade de Bordeaux, stripping down to his underpants at full-time and throwing his shorts into the crowd, much to the amusement of a watching Farrell.

“I'm not the first person to take their shorts off after a game,” he said yesterday. “I doubt I'll be the last. I've been told to keep them on this week. I'll try my hardest, I'll see how I'm feeling.”