Mack Hansen says Ireland must not hesitate in bringing down new Italy dangerman Ange Capuozzo - just as Antoine Dupont stopped the Connacht winger himself in his tracks.
Hansen feels Andy Farrell's men should "rough up" Capuozzo, the 23-year-old Toulouse full-back who has scored six tries in nine Tests for the Azzurri.
“He’s an eyes-up player so I think if we can get our hands on him and rough him up a bit that would help us,” said Hansen.
“He’s not the world’s biggest player but he’s so quick that we’re probably going to have hunt in threes to take care of him.
“But when it comes to it, we’re going to have to focus on every player in that backline as well – they’re all super-quick whippets."
Hansen, 24, was blown away by how scrum-half Dupont denied him a try in the first half of Ireland's win against France.
“I think it just showed his brute strength first of all but it also just shows how smart of a player he is," he recalled.
"I’ve seen plenty of people in the same situation where they just try to tackle a player out and that’s kind of it. I’ve never seen anybody go directly for someone’s hips to lift them up so they can’t go forward.
“To be fair to him it was pretty smart and there was nothing I could really do about it.
"Maybe someone a bit bigger than me could have powered over but I think it just shows what kind of calibre player he really is.”
Hansen admits he is enjoying his second Six Nations more than his debut championship and just wants to ride the wave for as long as it lasts.
"It's crazy seeing some of my Snapchat memories of what I was doing three years ago," he said.
"It's completely different to this, I'll leave it to your imagination. I'm very grateful and seeing stuff like that is a pinch yourself moment.
"I realise how lucky I am and I guess that's why now I'm saying I want to enjoy this just as much as I can, it's not going to last forever. For the time being, I'm loving it.
"This Six Nations has been great. I feel I can kind of enjoy it a little bit more.
"The last Six Nations was also great fun but I just spent the whole time stressing, trying to learn all the plays, all the calls.
"Coming in this second time is a lot easier when I had a year under my belt.
"That's what it's all about now for me now, just enjoying these moments and I know that I'm in a special team here, it's not something you get all the time, so it's been great."
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