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 ouraudience loved the most. Today it's the top five from Patrick McKendry.
The four ABs under pressure - September 28
Defeats, Sir Steve Hansen used to say, are much better teachers than victories, but the All Blacks presumably learned plenty during their narrow win over a limited Springboks team, and several players may be on tenterhooks in terms of selection this week.
Chief among them will be Akira Ioane, TJ Perenara, Beauden Barrett and George Bridge. All four were put under immense pressure and failed to perform to their capabilities, and such is the depth in their positions (Barrett apart given Richie Mo'unga has just returned from two weeks in MIQ) that others may be given opportunities this week.
This is as it should be, and perhaps the All Blacks were getting a little too comfortable after their three previous performances in Australia, which ranged from very good to excellent against the Wallabies and Pumas (twice).
What the 19-17 victory over the Boks in a humid Townsville did confirm is that no team, no matter how talented, performs well when constantly on the back foot. It also highlighted that test rugby at the highest level is an intense and ruthless business. Ian Foster's selections this week may reflect that.
TJ Perenara in Cardiff, Wales. Photo / Getty Images
ABs set to make wrong choice for captain - August 27
As a senior member of a pack missing the experience and talents of Sam Whitelock and Sam Cane for the first test of what All Blacks head coach Ian Foster has quite rightly described as a "mammoth" tour, Codie Taylor's value is rising as inexorably as the price of an average Auckland house.
Whether the experienced hooker's form is rewarded with the captaincy in the absence of Whitelock, whose trip to Perth has been delayed due to family commitments, and Cane, a long-term absentee due to a chest injury, remains to be seen, but it must be a contest between Taylor and Ardie Savea.
Codie Taylor arrives for a New Zealand All Blacks training session at Bruce Pulman Park. Photo / Getty Images
Rugby's big milestone - September 21
This Saturday's big rugby milestone – the 100th test between the All Blacks and Springboks and a celebration of a rivalry that has plumbed the depths off the field during the scourge of apartheid and reached intoxicating heights on it via the quality of the contests - is in danger of being a fizzer because the world champions don't appear to be worthy of the title.
They have been awful in Australia, and there will be many around the world looking on with satisfaction that the Boks' safety-first game is getting what it deserves.
Test rugby is the ultimate pragmatic affair - results are all - but when relentlessly negative teams lose like South Africa have over the last fortnight then they can't expect the rest of the rugby world to refuse to indulge in a little schadenfreude.
The Springbok in action against the All Blacks at Cbus Super Stadium. Photo / Getty Images
ABs' major weapon - July 22
It's at this point, with the domestic series against Tonga and Fiji over, and with the Bledisloe Cup and Rugby Championship featuring the varied physical threats of Australia, South Africa and Argentina fast approaching, that All Blacks head coach Ian Foster may be thankful for the progression of one player in particular.
Given the options available to Foster, there are few players probably apart from Sam Whitelock, Brodie Retallick and Aaron Smith guaranteed to start in the Bledisloe Cup test at Eden Park on August 7, but while No 8 Luke Jacobson, the player known at the Chiefs as "concrete shoulders", isn't quite set in stone he is likely to be on the team sheet in indelible ink at least.
There are fewer All Blacks as good at the breakdown as Jacobson and as ever this will be the battleground over the next few months. Will Jordan's five tries against Tonga at Mt Smart Stadium caught the eye but Jacobson's accuracy and efficiency at the tackled-ball area is likely to live long in the memory for Foster and his fellow selectors.
Luke Jacobson in action against Tonga. Photo / Photosport
Exciting new All Black - June 24
There are just over 800 days before the All Blacks play France in the first match of the 2023 World Cup in Paris – current pandemic permitting.
The match will be by far the All Blacks' toughest test in Pool A (Italy and two nations yet to qualify – one from Africa and one from the Americas – make up the pool) and then we're into the stomach-churning business of the play-offs.
So, with the memory of the All Blacks' last World Cup exit, a limp defeat to England in the semifinal, still fresh, ask yourself this: Which of the new selections in Ian Foster's squad would you put money on to make a real difference in France in just over two years' time?
It's not difficult to make a case for Ethan de Groot, a 1.9m, 122kg, 22-year-old from Southland who appears to be the most exciting tight forward to emerge for the All Blacks since Scott Barrett made his debut, albeit in a defeat, as a replacement against Ireland in Chicago in 2016. Because time's ticking away to the big dance and the All Blacks need options up front.
