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Assistant coach Mike Catt categorically denied Mack Hansen\u2019s shock omission for Ireland\u2019s Rugby World Cup opener against Romania is down to an internal disciplinary issue.<\/p>\n
Australia-born wing Hansen has been among Ireland\u2019s standout players amid their current 13-match winning run but was the only first-team regular left out of Saturday\u2019s Pool B clash in Bordeaux.<\/p>\n
Head coach Andy Farrell confirmed the 25-year-old is not injured when announcing his team on Thursday.<\/p>\n
https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/Cwx-BsdsyMB<\/p>\n
The Englishman then volunteered information about some members of his squad succumbing to off-field distractions when the team were based in Biarritz for their final warm-up game against Samoa in nearby Bayonne.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThe reason we went there is that there\u2019s a lot of distraction that goes on, certainly when you\u2019re in a hotel that\u2019s on the beach,\u201d Farrell said in answering a routine question about newer members of his squad not having World Cup baggage.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome people handled that brilliantly, some people didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
Farrell\u2019s cryptic admission fuelled speculation in the wake of Hansen\u2019s surprise non-selection.<\/p>\n
Yet Catt insisted the Connacht player has not breached team rules.<\/p>\n
\u201cGood question really, it\u2019s a long tournament first and foremost and it\u2019s making sure that we look after everybody,\u201d Catt replied when asked why Hansen has been left out.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the same breath there is good competition in that area too. There is nothing that Mack has done wrong. It\u2019s not that he\u2019s performed badly at all.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s done exceptionally well in his pre-season games and like we say, it\u2019s a long competition and we need to keep people fresh too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ireland\u2019s strong selection is missing just three of arguably Farrell\u2019s preferred starting XV: injured hooker Dan Sheehan, flanker Josh van der Flier, who is on the bench, and Hansen.<\/p>\n
Hansen, who recently had Farrell\u2019s face tattooed on his leg as part of a pact with captain Johnny Sexton, has only sat out three Test matches since his debut in the 2022 Six Nations.<\/p>\n
One of those fixtures was the first Test against New Zealand last year when he had Covid-19, while another was last month\u2019s warm-up match with Italy, when most of Ireland\u2019s star names were given the weekend off.<\/p>\n
Questioned directly on whether the selection decision was due to a disciplinary matter, Catt replied: \u201cNot at all, no.\u201d<\/p>\n
There is nothing that Mack has done wrong. It\u2019s not that he\u2019s performed badly at all<\/p>\n
Centre Bundee Aki, who was sitting next to Catt, joked his provincial team-mate\u2019s absence was performance-related, saying: \u201cHe was useless.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hansen trained at Stade de Bordeaux on Friday morning as talk of his situation threatens to deflect from Ireland\u2019s maiden fixture in France.<\/p>\n
The world\u2019s top-ranked nation will run out in front of a sold-out crowd of around 42,000, with temperatures forecast to reach 35 degrees Celsius.<\/p>\n
Aki is preparing to return to World Cup action for the first time since his red card against Samoa in 2019 ruled him out of Ireland\u2019s subsequent quarter-final loss to New Zealand.<\/p>\n
The 33-year-old is not contemplating redemption.<\/p>\n
\u201cI forgot about that,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m not thinking about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Asked if he wanted to put things right, he continued: \u201cNot really, just play the best I can. Do the best I can for the squad, that\u2019s all I can do really.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think about what happened in the past. I think about what\u2019s happening tomorrow and put my best foot forward.\u201d<\/p>\n