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 to sport, from business to entertainment and lifestyle, these are the voices and views our
Chris Rattue: The Richie Mo'unga - Beauden Barrett debate is now over
Richie Mo'unga in action as the All Blacks take on Fiji in Hamilton on July 17, 2021. Photo / Photosport
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All Blacks test ruined by bizarre distractions - July 18
Don't ask me what happened in the second half of the alleged test in Hamilton. Wouldn't have a clue. I gave up at half time, driven away by the incessant music out of the Waikato Stadium speakers, not to mention the referee's whistle.
Which was worse? That's easy - the stadium music by far, which wrecked what was always going to be a lopsided test between the All Blacks and Fiji. The sound system was beyond a distraction. Almost every gap in play - and there were a lot - was accompanied by a segment of pop sounds. It was bizarre and ridiculous.
Great sporting atmospheres are not built by wannabe DJs. The spine gets to tingle when the crowd responds to the game. Rugby probably thinks it's being really cool and modern. No people you are not.
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How does a sport lose its way like this?
All Blacks power rankings - the best and worst this season -June 15
Chris Rattue judges the best and worst performances from All Blacks across the Super Rugby Aotearoa and Transtasman campaigns.
HOOKER
Ups: Codie Taylor has been superb, particularly early in the season. Ash Dixon's fantastic lineout throwing is a huge weapon for the Highlanders but he's probably not a test option at 32.
Rising: I like the look of big Chief Samisoni Taukei'aho over Hurricane whirlwind Asafo Aumua. He's not as flamboyant, but has a lot more grunt and was part of an awesome Chiefs scrum.
Downs: Dane Coles - only a shadow of his exhilarating best, and he'll be approaching 37 by the next World Cup. As harsh as it seems, this is the perfect year to move on, take a risk, blood the up and comers, even though the combative Coles' influence over the All Blacks remains vital. The selectors won't of course, fearing test losses which would put Ian Foster's shaky reign under even more pressure.
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Grant Dalton has finally stepped out of Peter Blake's shadow - March 3
Grant Dalton, I salute you. Eeeeek. That was a bit hard to write. "Dalts" isn't easy to like. He doesn't have the charisma or swashbuckling air of the late, great sailing supremo Peter Blake. But boy, does he get things done.
Here's an irony. Dalton has finally stepped out of the enormous Blake shadow, and he did it while staying in the shadows. The Team New Zealand boss was hardly sighted during this America's Cup, letting the amazing boat and team he formed do the talking as they eventually blitzed the Italians.
A bloke who wouldn't get off the boat in the past, who seemed to want to hog the limelight, gave a victory speech so short at the main America's Cup village stage that you would swear he had an important telephone call to take elsewhere. Maybe he did. ("Is that you, Sir Jim?").
This is what I really like about Grant Dalton. He's a throwback to the roots of great professional sport, which relied on win-at-all-cost alpha males who would happily step on toes, but only when they weren't sticking a foot on someone's neck.
NZ's best-ever Olympian? Why it's not Carrington (or Pascoe) - August 6
Social media is ablaze again, with allegedly indignant punters claiming that Sophie Pascoe is being ignored in the greatest Olympian debate, one fired by Lisa Carrington's Tokyo medal haul. Paralympic swimming legend Pascoe has nine gold medals and six silvers. Olympic canoe legend Lisa Carrington has (at the time of writing) five gold medals and one bronze.
That anyone can win 15 medals over three Games makes it fairly clear this is an argument not worth having, because some sports are far more numerous in events and medal opportunities than others. As divers know, degree of difficulty is pivotal to a final score. But let's battle on.
I know very little about any Paralympic sport or Olympic canoeing and have virtually no interest in either. The last time I went to watch a canoe race was…never. But if you do want to properly compare the two using numbers, it's probably going to take more complicated arithmetic than 15 medals v six medals.
