A hugely experienced player and one of the original Hurricanes selections in 1996, Bruce Hansen played two matches, during which he was sidelined by a major clavicular injury that forced his abrupt retirement from all rugby. In the first year of professional rugby his appeal for insurance compensation was a test case but was turned down.

In an illustrious first-class career, Hansen's other claim to fame was as one of the few players, and certainly one of the last, to play against all 27 New Zealand NPC unions, playing for Wanganui 1986-1989, 1991-1993, Hawke's Bay in 1990 and Manawatu in 1994-1995.

Representative honours were for the New Zealand Divisional XV between 1988-1989, and 1991-1995, as an All Black triallist in 1990 and1992, and for the New Zealand XV in 1992-1993. He also represented New Zealand at U18 level in 1982.

One of the true characters of New Zealand rugby, Hansen hung up his boots to work fulltime as a stock agent living near Taihape, a job he'd been doing for two decades after turning down another offer in 1989 to play rugby in Eastern Province in South Africa with Murray Mexted and Mark Shaw.