Ireland winger Mack Hansen put in a sterling performance to win Player of the Match in Ireland’s win over Italy but slipped up in his post-match interview after swearing live on TV.

The Connacht star dropped an F-bomb when being interviewed after collecting his award on Irish TV channel RTE.

Hansen accidentally knocked the microphone and instinctively reacted by saying: “Oh, f***” before quickly realising his mistake and saying “pardon” multiple times in an attempt to atone for his bad language after Saturday’s Guinness Six Nations match in Rome.

The 24-year-old scored two tries at the Stadio Olimpico as the world’s No 1 side held off a spirited Italy to claim a bonus-point 34-20 victory and keep alive their hopes of a Grand Slam.

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Mack Hansen interview: What Ireland winger said

Speaking after the game, Hansen said: “(It wasI patchy in the first half and as soon as we got on top, you just saw what Italy can do. They came back with a late try at the end there, to get themselves back into the game. They are a team that keeps coming.

“We knew coming out that the second half was going to be a tough battle and it was.”

Asked about the composure his side needed, Hansen replied: “They just play with so much emotion, you can kind of get caught up in it all sometimes. I think it’s a great way to describe it, composure is what we needed.

“And I think we delivered. We brought it together when we felt like we were down, we were able to take a breath and kind of get back to neutral which is what we planned. We knew there was going to be plenty of emotion, sound and atmosphere around here. It’s something we’ve been working on and it was good to see it come out today.”

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Hansen was then probed about Ireland’s next fixture away against Triple Crown-chasing Scotland at BT Murrayfield and that is when disaster struck.

Before his unfortunate slip of the tongue, Hansen kept his cards close to his chest and added: “We haven’t been thinking too much about it, to be honest, it was all about this week.

“That’s going to be another tough one away, I haven’t played at Murrayfield yet, so fingers crossed I can make that…Oh f***, pardon, pardon… trip over, it would be great. Murrayfield is a wonderful place to play, so we are pumped for that.”

Interviewer Clare McNamara apologised multiple times for Hansen’s language but the gaffe seemed to go down well with Irish fans on social media as one said: “Loved it, so natural.”

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