Peter O'Mahony says Irish rugby needs "characters" like Mack Hansen after the winger joked about having a "five-minute tiff" with boss Andy Farrell.
The duo were on media duty after Farrell named a strong outfit to take on Tonga in Ireland's Pool B clash on Saturday in Nantes (8pm).
Australia-born Hansen joined Connacht in 2021 and quickly made an impression with his ability on the ball and his freewheeling care-free attitude off the pitch.
He was on the shortlist for Ireland and the Six Nations' player of the year awards last season and scored three tries in the victorious Grand Slam campaign, of which he played every minute of every game.
The exchange followed on from the head coach’s comments made last week that some players dealt with the down-time around the recent Samoa game in Bayonne better than others.
Hansen was originally left out of the team to face Romania but featured after Robbie Henshaw got injured in the captain's run.
Last Friday, backs coach Mike Catt said Hansen's omission was purely a selection issue.
"According to you [the media], he's been nothing but trouble," said Munster captain O’Mahony.
"He's been a breath of fresh air. An incredible character, good person.
"We talk about it a lot, the squad that we have and how important that is to fit in and straight away we knew he was a top man.
"A character but above it all he's an incredible athlete and one of the world's best wingers at the moment, which is a great addition to add to the squad.
"But as I said, the overriding factor is that he's a good person and he's seamlessly fitted into our squad like everyone else has.
"He's been great craic and you need characters like that. The beauty of the game of rugby is the different characters you get and we'd be lost without guys like this.
"Tours like this are made for being incredibly serious, and obviously our jobs and everything that goes with it, but the craic that fellas like this bring make it a great place to be."
Earlier at the briefing, Farrell fielded a question about why the 25-year-old winger was not originally named to start.
"Where the hell did all that come from?" he said.
"Left out of the 23? No. Anyway...carry on.
"Because we wanted to give someone else a game, as simple as that.
"And case in point, actually, as far as everyone being ready to go, it's exactly the same this weekend.
"So if Robbie pulls up on Friday and Mack is covering three different positions off the bench and did superbly for that, that's the type of thing that needs to happen within a World Cup.
"Mack's up next [in the press conference] so you can ask him the question as well, 'was he a naughty boy'? He definitely wasn't!"
Hansen was subsequently asked about if he was aware of rumours surrounding his behaviour and if he was worried about getting a bad reputation.
O’Mahony interjected: "Did Andy not just answer a question about this a second ago?" before an IRFU media officer said the story was based on "a rumour and an incorrect fact".
Invited to address the question, Hansen joked: "We had a five-minute tiff, whatever, and we’re fine now, so it’s all good!"
While O’Mahony is representing Ireland at the World Cup for the third time, it’s Hansen’s first time on the main stage and he said he has plenty of support from overseas.
"A lot of my mates are over at the moment, so it's tough getting Snapchats of them smoking vapes and drinking beers at 12 in the morning while I'm trying to prepare for a game but it's good craic," he said.
"It's good fun to see and it will be good to catch up with them and I guess it's actually been nice getting that aspect outside of playing and seeing how much a World Cup means to people.
"People have been planning this for the last four years and to see everybody really enjoying themselves is great."
Asked about removing his shorts as the team celebrated last weekend’s win, he added: "I'm not the first person to take their shorts off after a game. I doubt I'll be the last.
"I've been told to keep them on this week so I'll try my hardest, I'll see how I'm feeling."
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