So far as is known American historian Henry Brooks Adams didn't know a lot about rugby but a thought of his could sum up Steve Hansen's situation as the All Blacks coach prepares for his fourth Rugby World Cup campaign.

"What one knows is, in youth, of little moment; they know enough, who know how to learn," Adams wrote.

If there is one capacity that Hansen has shown it is an ability to learn, something he willingly acknowledges.

His made his World Cup debut in 2003 with Wales, and his side gave the All Blacks of his homeland something of a hurry up in pool play before they departed in the quarter-finals courtesy of England. That campaign had been one of naivety, he said, because he didn't really have enough information about what was involved.

His second campaign, this time as assistant coach with the All Blacks in 2007, was little better given the favourites were (in)famously tipped out by France, again in the quarter-finals. That was an uncomfortable experience, but the coaching team at least got a second chance - something unprecedented in the New Zealand game, especially after the country's worst World Cup performance. But the decision allowed an important lesson to be absorbed by the coaches and their charges.

"You can't change what happened but what you can do is learn from it," Hansen told ESPN. "We pulled it apart. We owned it. We couldn't blame it on somebody else. We were the coaches, we had made the mistakes, and we had to recognise that."

In accepting that, Hansen, senior coach Graham Henry and fellow assistant Wayne Smith felt they had better own the lessons of New Zealand's other campaigns as well.

"You have got to own everything whether it is good, bad or indifferent," he said.

The coaches had got it wrong in 2007, when they were guilty of arrogance in not having their pre-game preparation right; they and their team had been over-confident as a result of their success in the years between Cups.

A further part of that ownership was acknowledging, especially as he assumed the head coach role for himself after the triumph of 2011, that he needed to change.

"I've changed massively [from when he started coaching]," Hansen told ESPN.

"You have only got to look at how I am in the media. The media were the enemy in the beginning and I didn't trust them. As assistant coach, my job was mainly to be the grumpy one. Once you realise the media have got a job to do and they are actually only a conduit to the people you really want to get to, which is the fans, it becomes a lot easier really."

Increasingly, his more relaxed approach, especially in the media, has seen his sense of humour come into play.

"I like to think I've always had a sense of humour. I'm probably a lot more confident to be able to use it, and a lot more trusting. I think the media are more trusting of me too, so it makes the whole environment a lot more friendlier and more honest I guess.

"But when you are the head coach I think it is a lot easier because you are driving where you want it to go.

"I decided right from day one [as head coach] that we were going to be up front and as honest as we possibly could be without being ridiculous and, as a result of that, it has just got easier and easier. You just have to be yourself and don't forget your sense of humour."

Steve Hansen © Getty Images

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The realisation that his public persona needing to change came from within, and he realised he needed some guidance. He approached New Zealand media identity Ian Fraser, who, he said, had been brilliant.

"He's been a great help and has become a great friend. I still talk to him all the time because he's a good man. It's just about having the strategy right, and the mindset. I control the mindset and also part of the strategy. It's about, 'where do we actually want to go here?'"

But it's not all about Steve Hansen. Far from it. Being a coach is about helping people do something they couldn't do before.

"That's your job as a coach, to facilitate an environment where your athletes can have some fun, they can learn, and they can play well on Saturday."

Hansen's coaching was initially pursued as a means of giving something back to a game that had allowed him to travel the world.

"I didn't start coaching to become an All Blacks coach, or Canterbury coach, or Crusaders coach for that matter. Along the way I was just lucky to have good players and they make you look good so you end up getting opportunities," he said.

Awareness also came as part of the government agency-sponsored coaches group working with High Performance Sport New Zealand. As one who has never forgotten there are other New Zealanders competing in different sports, Hansen has never been averse to acknowledging those successes before starting into a press conference.

All Blacks coach Steve Hansen sits with Richie McCaw (left) and Kieran Read before New Zealand's Rugby World Cup team photo© 2015 Getty Images/2015 Getty Images

"The group was where I first came in contact with Ian Fraser and a whole lot of other high-performing coaches, and we shared ideas. Alex McKenzie ran it and opened the doors for us to hear really good lecturers and challenged us to think about how we make ourselves better.

"But the key thing was the opportunity to sit down and talk with other people who had similar problems; they were trying to run teams, trying to get cultures right, and how to deal with this and that.

"I was fortunate as at that time I was already in the All Blacks [environment] and had a really high-performing team to work with, and the other guys were starting to come into that. We made some great friendships and we're still talking as a group."

It was all part of the on-going development of sport in New Zealand, where the population approaching five million is too small in terms of sporting know-how to ignore the cross-fertilisation of ideas.

Time has also allowed Hansen to appreciate when to turn the rugby switch on and off. Family time, watching their sport, following the racehorses his family have an interest in, are his chance to take a break from rugby's pressures.

"You've got to work smart, not hard," he told ESPN. "But it's got to be effective work. Our formula is that if you get an equal amount of stimulation, which is learning and fun, then you are going to perform better. So it's no different for the coach; if I'm all learning, learning, learning and no fun then I'm going to perform only half as well as I possibly can.

"You've got discipline yourself to say, 'it's okay to read a book, it's okay to watch a movie or to have a bit of banter with somebody', and enjoy the moment and understand now it's work time and now it's down time. If you get that balance right you don't burn out and you keep performing to a high level."

With three Cup campaigns behind him, Hansen has known the highs and lows and has kept learning; few are the coaches who have had that luxury at the highest level for so long.

ESPN is proud to announce an exclusive 1-hour special - Cheika's Wallabies: Hope of a Nation - with a repeat broadcast on ESPN Thu Sept 17 at 9pm AEST (9pm NZ). ESPNscrum's leading rugby expert Greg Growden goes one-on-one with the Wallabies coach in this exclusive special that gives a rare insight into the intriguing personality of Australia's head coach.