Mack Hansen says Ireland have done their homework on Italy star Ange Capouzzo and will try to "rough him up".
The French-born full-back burst onto the scene last season, setting up the Azzurri's winning score against Wales as they ended a 36-match losing streak in the Guinness Six Nations.
The 23-year-old Toulouse player then scored two tries as Kieran Crowley’s side beat Australia last autumn and got on the scoresheet in their narrow defeat to France in round one this month.
He features prominently in four of the Six Nations statistics tables: defenders beaten (20, including 17 v England), carries (27), metres made (241) and offloads (4) after two rounds.
"He’s just quick, 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 when asked about Italy’s key man ahead of Saturday’s showdown in Rome (2.15pm live on RTÉ2, RTÉ Player and RTÉ Radio 1)
"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.
"I’ve done a little bit of footage on him. He’ll be dangerous but no, [we’re] ready for him."
Australia-born Hansen, who made his Irish debut in last season's Six Nations and will win cap number 12 if he plays against Italy, says this is the best Italian side in years.
"Yeah, anyone would be kidding themselves if they said they’ve seen a better one," he said.
"They got a great win in Wales, and Oz. They’ve been pretty unlucky against France, showed up in Twickenham against England, which everyone knows isn’t easy at all.
"I think they’re just sure of what kind of game they want to play, where maybe at times they’ve been a bit of frazzled when it comes to it, but they just look really sure of their identity at the moment, of how they want to play the game.
"And they genuinely have some genuine superstars in their team now that are carrying it. They’re not just good, solid Italian player, they’re actually world-class players and that always helps as well."
The Connacht winger helped Ireland to a stunning 32-19 victory over France two weeks ago and almost scored but for an unlikely try-saving intervention by scrum-half Antoine Dupont.
Hansen admitted that his failure to ground the ball has been a topic of conversation.
The 24-year-old said: "Believe or not, it’s brought up a lot, the Dupont try.
"I think it just showed his brute strength first of all but it also just shows how smart of a player he is.
"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 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.
"I don’t know what else I could have done. If I was in that situation again I’ll have to, maybe I’ll just dive or jump in the air or something like that, something a bit different but it was some play from him."
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