The difference in squad selection between Hansen and Meyer

Looking at the AB squad as announced Hansen set down one norm and that is that top level performance is an absolute requirement.   This norm applies to all players equally - irrespective of age of players.  Another requirement of Hansen was that players must be match-fit and there should be no question marks about that requirement.
Those norms were I believe applied by all participating nations in naming their squads and is a sound basis for squad selection.
Meyer went completely the other way.  There was neither the need for performance - nor the need for match-fitness.   Meyer looked first of all at reputation and especially those players he is acquainted with.   A long list of players in the Meyer squad have been sub-par for performance for years and an amazing number of those have not had a decent rugby game for months or even more than a year in some cases.    He emptied the hospital wards to find players to fit into the team.
The difference between Meyer and other coaches is that they have built up reasonable squads over the past few years - some has had less time to do it - but had up-to-date-knowledge of performing players, while he has decided in 2012 who would be in his ideal team and has done zero in development of a squad for the upcoming WC.   The fact that he constantly ran back to a list of ex-players and retirees from international rugby is adequate proof of that.  When they under-performed - he ignored the under-performance and just kept them in the squad.  The only changes since 2012 he made that could be called permanent in nature was -
*   as a result of injuries to players which caused him to change his mind when the new players comprehensively out-performed his initial favourites (eg Vermeulen and Le Roux);
*   when he initially could not convince Bakkies Botha and Matfield to return to the squad (eg Etzebeth);
*   when players themselves decide they could not compete any longer and quit (eg Bakkies Botha,  Gurthro Steenkamp and Jacque Fourie).
Meyer's squad is a concoction of under-performing reputation players with an alarmingly long list of players who played virtually no rugby for at least this year or when they did play made an unholy mess of their performances.