Wellington: All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has dampened down talk of a “feud” with his British and Irish Lions counterpart Warren Gatland and said the media had blown their exchanges out of proportion.

Earlier this week, Hansen branded Gatland’s complaints about All Blacks players diving at the legs of Conor Murray in the first test as “desperate”, which gave rise to a slew of articles about how the two New Zealanders did not get on.

Hansen, whose side can wrap up the three-Test series with victory at Wellington Regional Stadium on Saturday, played down suggestions that he was in a war of words with Gatland.

“I read somewhere that I, ‘lashed out at Warren Gatland,’” Hansen said on Thursday.

“I haven’t lashed out at Warren Gatland, at all. I’ve got a lot of respect for him and I’m looking forward to having a (drink) with him and a chuckle about life.

“We’ve got a lot of common interests. He likes racing horses and so do I. He coaches Wales and I’ve been through that experience myself.

“It’s the media that ramp it up because it sells you guys’ newspapers. Who am I to say stop it? But I do look at it and say ‘well, that’s actually not how it went.’” Hansen also hit out at the New Zealand Herald’s decision to run a cartoon depicting Gatland as a clown, echoing a similar effort targeting Australia coach Michael Cheika last year.

“I think it’s really disappointing. It’s one thing to have a bit of banter and you guys beef that up to make it bigger than it really is,” Hansen added.

“To come out and do that is ridiculing somebody. He doesn’t deserve it and, at the end of the day, we’re all coaches trying to do what we think’s right.”

Told of Hansen’s comments, Gatland expressed surprise that any feud existed.

“I think I’ve been pretty mild,” he said.

“I have tried to be complimentary of the All Blacks. They’re the best team in the world.

“It has been a great experience. The hospitality has been fantastic. The treatment we have had from the fans has been absolutely brilliant.

“I don’t think there is any hostility from this side, hopefully we can have a good game and (drink) afterwards.”

According to the British media, however, Gatland has gambled everything in his selection of Owen Farrell at inside centre and Jonathan Sexton at fly-half for the make-or-break second Test.

The Daily Telegraph sums up Gatland’s decision to play both the England and Ireland playmakers as the “biggest call of his career” with ‘The Sun’ and ‘The Times’ newspapers declaring the Kiwi as “going for broke”. The Guardian called it “a curveball” and that it sent the message “you ain’t seen nothing yet”.

However, England’s 2003 World Cup winning fly-half Jonny Wilkinson swims against this tide regarding the decision.

Wilkinson told The Daily Telegraph despite the experiment not coming off when Lions head coach Clive Woodward picked him and then Wales fly-half Stephen Jones in the first Test against the All Blacks in 2005 he believes this can work.

“You don’t take the number off your back (referring to the fly-half No. 10) and wither,” he said.

“When you have that balance, when you’re both in the game and (in italics) controlling it, it’s an amazing feeling.”

World Cup winning coach Woodward, writing in the Daily Mail, applauded the decision.

“The plus sides of this arrangement are considerable,” remarked the 61-year-old.

“We saw last week the attacking and counter-attacking capability of Liam Williams, Elliot Daly and Anthony Watson and that could be enhanced with this twin playmaker set-up.

“One I like because of the extra options it gives you.”

The series concludes on July 8 at Eden Park in Auckland, where the All Blacks won the first Test 30-15.