BREAK OUT

HANSEN VERSUS EWEN MCKENZIE

“I was a little dumbfounded by it initially. I thought why would he do that, and came to the conclusion that maybe Ewen doesn’t trust [Bernard Foley] to be able to do what he wants against us, or if you really think about it, the other guy is under contract and league are chasing him, so you might start thinking maybe the ARU have told him he’s got to pick him.

“But it doesn’t matter why he has, both of them are really good rugby players, and Kurtley is certainly a guy who loves to do things di erently.”

- This was in August 2014, after McKenzie had surprisingly picked Beale at No 10 for the second Bledisloe Cup match of the year.

HANSEN VERSUS MICHAEL CHEIKA

“Michael Cheika, who by the way isn’t a bad bloke, he just gets a bit emotional, and as you well know we thought we’d get him emotional and take his mind o  the job.

“The plan was not to call him by his name but just say he’s the Australian coach. Then he went on a tirade about not respecting him.

“I guess what we’re trying to do there is take his mind o  the job and while I say he’s not a bad bloke, he’s got to control his emotions.

- February 2019 “For a long time the relationship with Australia has probably been a little frosty and maybe we

need to sit down and have a beer together and sort it out.

“But I think some of it comes down to the fact that the Bledisloe Cup means so much to both teams and when one team’s having a dominant period like we’re at the moment, the other team really gets frustrated.

“It’s how you deal with those frustrations and how you handle yourself when you’re winning, I guess, is important. This week we’ve tried to play a pretty straight bat and not tried to aggravate anyone. Our media didn’t help with the clown thing but that’s the media. It’s not us.”

Hansen responding to an outburst by Cheika after the All Blacks had won the 2016 series 30 in Auckland. The Wallabies coach had gone on a rant about the All Blacks not respecting Australia.

HANSEN VERSUS WARREN GATLAND

“I think we have played 10 times, and it might be eight wins [to the All Blacks], one loss and one draw. So it has been competitive, yeah.

“Having him back in New Zealand not sure how that is going to work to be honest. Because he is going to go and do the Lions after that. So there is not going to be a lot of continuity there for the Chiefs and him. But I am sure he will work his way through that.”

Hansen after the All Blacks had beaten Wales in the 2019 World Cup bronze medal match.