MELBOURNE - The Steve Hansen factor has several of his former proteges wary ahead of tomorrow's clash between the All Blacks and Wales.
The former Canterbury coach, now in charge of Wales, has previously coached one third of the All Black squad.
All of them were under Hansen at Canterbury between 1999
and 2001, and two of them - prop Greg Somerville and second five-eighth Aaron Mauger - believed Hansen's knowledge of the players would hand Wales an advantage.
"I think he knows our strengths and weaknesses, especially the players he dealt with closely at Canterbury," Mauger said.
"So he'll be trying to get into those things. He would have made his boys aware, so I suppose they'll be trying to attack there."
Mauger is among a host of Cantabrians who have sung the praises of Hansen this week, believing he has had an impact on the Welsh team.
Somerville said aspects of Hansen's coaching style could be seen in Wales' playing style. Although Hansen is a former centre, Somerville said he had evolved into an astute forwards coach.
More importantly, he was an excellent player manager.
"One of the biggest things is being able to bring a team together," Somerville said.
"He's a great man with coach-player relationships and that sort of thing off the field, which is really important to building a strong team. That's his strongest asset.
"I only know him for the guy he is, and he's a good guy."
Hansen finishes his two-year contract in Wales early next year and is expected to return to rugby in New Zealand.
Somerville suspected his former coach had found his tenure a major challenge.
"It's probably been a lot of hard work for him.
"But he's brought a lot of young players through into the team, and he's progressed with the older players as well.
"I think it will probably benefit the Welsh in a few years to come."
- NZPA
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