As valiantly as Boric and O'Neill played, they were second best behind the power pairing of Victor Matfield and Bakkies Botha and the All Blacks learned the danger of fielding inexperienced, raw athletes in such a critical role.
That memory is keeping Williams very much in the All Black frame. The big lock hasn't impressed this season and a wild cameo in Christchurch threw him further offside with an exasperated rugby public struggling to see his worth.
But Hansen has no such concerns and is hopeful that Williams will recover from his knee surgery to be available for the bulk of the campaign. "With Ali and Anthony Boric injured and Tom Donnelly looking like he might be going to Japan for a season, before coming back to Super Rugby next year, we are short of experience at lock.
"The three young men that we used in the June series - Sam Whitelock, Brodie Retallick and Luke Romano - are mature and they prepared and performed well, but the more experience you can get in your tight five the better.
"It was hugely pleasing to see Luke Romano play so well as he gives us another dimension. He plays a lot like Brad Thorn with his willingness to carry the ball and he impact he makes. We are hoping Ali is going to come through his surgery and he might miss the first and maybe the second games so we should be a bit better off for experience then."
In the interim, Hansen will be closely monitoring Jarrad Hoeata, who has been a little disappointing this season. Capped three times last year on the back of his abrasive, mobile, crunchy game, the Highlander has been quiet for most of 2012 and the All Black selectors would dearly like to see a more effective contribution from him in the next few weeks. Others such as Craig Clarke will also be on the radar.
Of equal concern is the lack of options at hooker both in the short and longer term. Hansen cites Crusaders hooker Corey Flynn as a get out of jail card should injury strike either of the veterans - Andrew Hore and Keven Mealamu.
"The thing we have got in our favour is Corey Flynn," says the coach. "He is 31, which might sound old, but he's got a lot of rugby left in him as he's missed a fair bit because of injury. He's a ready-made experienced player and if we had an injury and had to call him in there is no doubt he'd do a good job for us."
Hansen believes that Hika Elliot also made progress throughout June and remains a player of interest. Ideally, though, the All Black management group would like to see a young hooker, someone in their early 20s, emerge strongly as a potential long-term successor to Hore and Mealamu, who are both well into their 30s.
No one, least of all Hansen, will want to see hooker replace first five and openside as the unsolvable problem.
Most of 2011 was spent fretting about the dreaded what-if scenario in regard to Daniel Carter. And when that had to be confronted, there was never conviction about the plan.
First it was Colin Slade who stepped up; then Aaron Cruden; before Stephen Donald emerged as the hero of the hour (51 minutes to be precise).
The All Black coaches spent three fruitless years between 2008 and 2011 trying to find a back-up No 10 and never really managed it. That was the same at openside where a specialist alternative to Richie McCaw was a project that was abandoned in 2011 - and the job given to utility loose forward Adam Thomson. "I guess the next six to 12 months will be interesting to see whether a young hooker emerges strongly as we don't really have one on the horizon at the moment."
