As we say goodbye to 2021 and welcome in 2022, it's a good time to catch up on the very best of the Herald columnists we enjoyed reading over the last 12 months. From politics
This year's competition – if we could call it that – was, however, infinitely weaker compared to the torrid New Zealand derby league.
Read the full article: Super rugby elephant in the room
The ABs with the most to gain - October 16
The All Blacks could feasibly roll out a collection of provincial players and still expect to comfortably roll over the USA in Washington DC next week. While the first stop on the five-match tour is a money-making venture, it presents valuable exposure for many fringe prospects and returning veterans alike. Liam Napier assesses who has the most to gain from a test against the world No 17.
Read the full article: The ABs with the most to gain
Aaron Smith's new deal with NZ Rugby - March 2
Aaron Smith re-signing with New Zealand Rugby and the Highlanders through to the 2023 World Cup should not be taken for granted. The All Blacks halfback, three tests shy of becoming New Zealand's 10th centurion, remains highly motivated to compete in the elite arena and influential in every environment.
Smith, at 32 years old, having claimed one World Cup and Super Rugby title in the same 2015 season, could easily opt to uproot his young family and cash in abroad. No one could begrudge him doing so.
Yet the type of competitor Smith is that option was never going to eventuate. Not yet, anyway.
Read the full article: Aaron Smith's new deal with NZ Rugby
NZ Rugby's $465m dilemma - March 27
New Zealand Rugby's Rubik's Cube in advocating to align with US technology investment giants Silver Lake is far from resolved.
Just as the complex puzzle has many sides and faces so, too, does the murky world of private equity.
Behind the scenes NZ Rugby's sales pitch to its provincial unions, Super Rugby franchises, Players' Association and former All Blacks players and coaches has been ongoing for months now; the $465 million offer for 15 per cent of the national body's commercial rights the best part of two years in the making.
The latest twists, ahead of a pivotal board meeting vote by provincial unions next month, come in the form of an independent PWC report, which after extensive research and consultation backs the deal, and continued concerns and opposition from New Zealand's influential Players' Association that threatens to scupper the financial windfall.
Read the full article: NZ Rugby's $465m dilemma
Aus teams set for harsh reality - May 10
For drama alone, Australia savoured a vastly more captivating Super Rugby final on Saturday night, but with the transtasman rivalry set to reignite this week, celebrations could be short-lived.
A couple of hours after the Crusaders survived two yellow cards to hold off the Chiefs in driving rain in Christchurch, Brad Thorn's Reds scored a bizarre try six minutes into added time to steal victory from the Brumbies in Brisbane and claim their first title in 10 years.
The Reds did everything they could to lose the Super Rugby AU final at home but, finally, after the Brumbies received two late yellow cards, Wallabies prop Taniela Tupou took a quick tap — a desperate, all-or-nothing play in the circumstances — and charged for the line. Tupou went agonisingly close to scoring — the Reds began celebrating as if he had — only for the ball to pop out and James O'Connor to cross for the match-winner.
That dramatic finish in front of a sellout crowd of 42,000 at Suncorp Stadium - the largest for a local derby in almost 20 years - suggests Australians are rediscovering their love of rugby.
Read the full article: Aus teams set for harsh reality