All Blacks coaching legend Steve Hansen praises Rassie Erasmus' selection policy

With excitement growing ahead of New Zealand's eight-match, old-school tour featuring four games against the leading South African club franchise as well as four Test matches, the 2015 Rugby World Cup-winning boss has given his take on the squad announcement by Erasmus.

He has also stuck his head above the parapet and declared the result of the Test series, which will open with matches in Johannesburg (two) and Cape Town before the four-Test series takes place in the American city of Baltimore on September 12.

Appearing on the latest episode of the Rugby Unity podcast, Hansen reflected on the 43-strong squad named by Erasmus, a selection that increased to 44 on Monday with the inclusion of prop Ntuthuko Mchunu.

"Well, they're strong. They're very, very strong," vouched Hansen. "There's not too many weaknesses there. It's a big squad, so I'm not sure if he (Erasmus) is going to be looking to use all those players or whether he's just wanting to reward everybody that he has had in the system and keep them in the system and keep growing them, but a very, very strong squad."

Across their recent three-game Nations Championship block featuring home wins over England, Scotland and Wales, Erasmus gave time to 43 players, including five debutants.

Twenty-three made just one appearance in the Southern Series, highlighting the level of rotation used by the coach. However, rather than these selections being of an ad hoc variety, Hansen praised Erasmus and his fellow Springbok coaches for the clever way they picked their teams.

"He has built cohesion," Hansen reckoned when looking at the huge number of players capped by Erasmus this month. "Like when he adds these young guys in, he doesn't throw them in ad hoc. He surrounds them with a core of people that are the cohesive unit, the cog of the team, so he has still got a large group of guys that have got great combinations and played with each other a lot and he just keeps adding in.

Springboks slammed for 'legally correct but morally corrupt' tactics as outspoken pundit hopes All Blacks will get a 'hard referee'

"So, the cohesion is actually getting stronger because he has now got someone that's played 10 Tests as a young player, might not be over a long period of time but they have trained together, they've been in the system together for a long time. It's not just playing time, it's training time. There will be competitions in games where you're building combos, within the training session as well. So, if we just looked at it selection-wise, you might say he is taking some risk, but he's clever.

"Well, the coaching group are clever. It's not just Rassie; the whole group need to be given credit. They are good at making sure, okay, we've got a solid block here of people that know what we want, how we want to do it, when we want to do it, and we'll just drip feed in some more people. And now that we have drip-fed that guy in for a wee bit, we might take him out and we'll drip-feed someone else in. But that core block stays the same."

Hansen felt that despite this level of 'clever' variety Erasmus has brought to the Springboks, new All Blacks boss Dave Rennie won't be distracted from what he to do. "He'll be driving his own bus. He won't be getting too worried about what Rasssie's doing.

"He'll reward the players that he feels have worked really well in this last campaign and then he'll look to add people in that he believes will complement that group, and it's going to be interesting to see who they are. He'll have a strong squad, which he'll need obviously. South Africa have got plenty of depth at the moment, but it's a great opportunity for us to build some as well.

"The fans are excited. I mean, they are seeing All Black rugby being played the way that they expect it to be played: Highly skilled, highly fast and winning, and doing things that we expect from All Black teams.

"I don't think the selections will be affected too much about what the external factors are thinking. It'll be their own conversations they're having about what direction they want to go in. They'll be having good robust discussions, knowing the men that are in there. So, with what they come up with, they'll be pretty clear about what they need and what they want."

Put on the spot by Rugby Unity show presenter David Pembroke for a Test series prediction, Hansen said: "Four Tests, could be two all. Look, it's going to be fantastic to sit back and watch it because there are contrasting styles.

"We'll learn a little bit more about the All Black team and about the South African team as well because they're going to have to front up against each other four times. So, you know, what style is actually making the better progress?"

Ex-Wallabies boss Ewen McKenzie, who was also on the show, added: "Well, I'm probably the same; it's hard to pick. It's going to be a matter of who blinks. I guess we know how South Africa is going to approach it, and we think we know what New Zealand might do.

"New Zealand can maybe do other things as well, so we can't just make assumptions, and they have got that element of, because it's a new coaching setup etc, they have got that ability to morph a bit more than maybe South Africa do. So, across the series, New Zealand might have the ability to morph more.

"South Africa are probably going to approach it like they always approach it. So yeah, if New Zealand can find ways to put pressure on them, then they might have to that might create some stress in the South African setup with having to find solutions to things that maybe there hadn't been a problem before.

"So that's what I'm hoping from a tactical point of view, that we're going to see everything on the table at some point and see what actually works. But in that context, yeah, two-all would be a great series for the world, for everyone watching. That would be a great outcome because it gives hope and whatever.

"That's what you'd like to see as a neutral person, but in the end, I just want to see how the game works. I don't want the game to be just something that's not, you know, just some sort of belligerent, you know, I don't want to see 80 minutes of rolling mauls or whatever. That's not going to do anything anyone any good.

"So, I'd like to see skill rewarded. We need to make sure that it's not just all attack. Everyone's got to be kept honest by the referee and the refereeing, you got four different referees I assume. I don't know the refereeing appointments. So, that could have an influence as well. My bottom line is let's just hope the yellow cards aren't deciding outcomes."

READ MORE: Stormers prop Ntuthuko Mchunu added to Springbok squad ahead of Argentina Test