BEST GAMES
Highlanders 34, Crusaders 26
A chilly Friday night in May and the enemy from the north came calling. The Crusaders started off well and had a couple of tries ruled out when - let's be honest - at least one should have been awarded.
But the Highlanders' backs won the game.
Waisake Naholo helped himself to a couple of tries while Matt Faddes ghosted his way past some brittle defence to score twice.
In front of a packed-out crowd, the game was in the balance for a while until 10 minutes from the end when big loose forward Liam Squire charged over to ice the match for the home side.
All Blacks 42, Australia 8
Hours before this game was played, details emerged of an All Black team room being bugged. Four months later, nothing has come from it. But what did emerge from that day in Sydney was a splendid All Black performance as it ran rings around the home side, which was frankly woeful.
Beauden Barrett showed all the skills and his electric pace while Ryan Crotty also had his moments.
Up front, the All Black pack just dominated the opposition and never took a backward step.
The Wallabies slowly improved throughout the year but were still some way back from the All Blacks.
Otago 44, Wellington 21
This was expected to be a tough test for Otago. Wellington has lots of depth and plenty of rising talent.
But Otago just exploded out of the blocks and never looked back. It was strong in the breakdown under the bizarre new laws and made the most of any mistake from the visiting side.
In the first half, there were plenty of those from the boys from the capital and Otago was ahead 28-0 at the break.
It was near perfection from the home team and tries and chances came along more quickly than a Gareth Morgan soundbite.
Wellington tried to fight back but the Otago team was too good and had a convincing win.
BEST PLAYERS
Beauden Barrett
No surprises here. Barrett started out behind Aaron Cruden at the start of the year but then Cruden got injured and Barrett - off the back of some sublime Super rugby form - came in and stole the show.
Has always been quick but there were doubts how he would cope in a very tight game. There were not many of those with the Hurricanes or the All Blacks and his play was a big reason for that. Could spot a gap more quickly than Arthur Taylor looking at a prison wall.
The only worry was his goal-kicking but it did not matter in most of the key games.
Ardie Savea
Savea pulled out of the Rio sevens campaign early on and in the end it was the correct decision - for him anyway, not the national sevens side
Was a big part of the Hurricanes' run to the title. Strong at the breakdown and got round the field well.
Also picked up some key tries, and was decidedly better than his brother.
It all seemed a tad strange that he was never seen as the first choice openside flanker when Sam Cane got injured.
Savea was seen more an an impact player and so had to come off the bench while the dependable Matt Todd was preferred as the starter.
Elliot Dixon
It was a strange old season for Dixon.
For the Highlanders he was superb, as he won lineout ball, made tackles and scored tries. He was strong at the breakdown and carried the ball well.
He was a big reason the Highlanders made it all the way to the semifinals of Super rugby. But in that game coughed the ball up when he should have scored.
Was that a turning point? From there the season sort of went quiet for him. Never really in the All Blacks' picture although played a fine game for the national team against the average Italians.
Michael Collins
Collins went to Wales and came back a metre quicker and a few kg lighter.
A tough midfielder, he was always seen as a dependable player if perhaps a tad too slow and too pedestrian.
But moved into fullback on a more permanent basis, Collins displayed the goods almost immediately. He timed his runs well, was safe under the high ball and made few mistakes. His form was rewarded with a Super rugby contract with the Blues.
WORST GAMES
Reds 28, Highlanders 27
The Highlanders always struggle against the Reds across the ditch. Helen Clark was in power the last time the Highlanders won against the Reds in Brisbane.
Down 22-6 at halftime, the Highlanders almost won the match but it would have been unjust if they had grabbed a victory.
The visiting side was average in the first 60 minutes. Too many dropped passes and missed tackles and no-one stood up and took charge. Ben Smith was missing and his absence was obvious.
Canterbury 45, Otago 34
Otago was trucking along nicely but got a reality check from the red and blacks.
It was just a game that meandered along. Canterbury was never troubled and then started making mass changes in the second half so its game went to custard.
Otago was about as accurate as a US presidential poll. It managed to nab a bonus point but was well off the pace.
The ending of the game could not come quickly enough.
COULD DO BETTER
Sonny Bill Williams
A season to forget for the big man. Went to sevens and never really convinced. Was perhaps too old for the game and lacked the pace.
Then went to the Rio Olympics and stuffed his Achilles in the first game which ended his season. Looking to come back with the Blues but at 31 has his body recovered enough and does he still have the drive to reach the top level again?
Julian Savea
A shocking first half of the year which ended with him dropped for the Hurricanes as they made their run to the Super rugby title. Looked slow, uninterested and unfit in most of the Super season.
Performed better with the All Blacks and, given space, is still a lethal attacking weapon. But one wonders considering the size of pay cheques he is getting, why he does not start hitting form earlier in the season.
Scott Eade
Picked up from Southland via Italy, Eade was steady but never spectacular for Otago.
Is a tradesman first five-eighth and has never really kicked on from school.
Missed some vital kicks for Otago, none more than the one in the dying minutes in the Mitre 10 Cup Championship final.
HEAD-SCRATCHERS
- Is it right that Wyatt Crockett has played more tests than Colin Meads? Is Crockett almost now undroppable?
- Was there a better feel-good story in rugby this year than Kane Hames wearing the All Black jersey?
- Is the national provincial championship - the Mitre 10 Cup - really that hard to understand? You play the six other teams in your division and four teams from the other division.
- Hasn't every competition in world sport, not just Super rugby or the Mitre 10 Cup, got strange formats and illogical draws?
- Good on the Hurricanes for winning their first Super rugby title, but did they realise no-one else was watching because the Olympics had started?
- How come the new breakdown laws were insignificant in club rugby, yet became front and centre as soon as the Mitre 10 Cup got under way?
- And who came up with these laws? The sport of kabaddi would be easier to understand than the explanation of why these rules came into being.
- If you were Ben Smith what would you do?
- How many more clubs are going to be linked with Smith before he makes a decision?
- If Jordie Barrett is so good, how come the New Zealand colts side finished fifth at the world junior championships, its worst placing?
- How come, with all the players in New Zealand, we cannot find one genuine speedster to play on the wing for the New Zealand sevens team?
- Will DJ Forbes ever give up?
- If North Otago played the whole season as it did in the final, would it not have won the Heartland Championship?
- Is third-choice Highlanders hooker Greg Pleasants-Tate better than not one but both of the hookers above him?
- Ryan Tongia - what did he ever do wrong? Although he could not tackle.
- Malakai Fekitoa, Waisake Naholo, Matt Faddes - who is going to be the breakout back for the Highlanders next season?
- Will Jamie Joseph be missed? How long before a new coach is announced? And what is the rush to get a new coach for a season which is 15 months away?
- Anyone else completely unexcited by the appointment of Colin Cooper to coach the Chiefs?
- Who is going to make the call that the Dunedin premier club competition should go down to eight teams? And which two clubs would fall on their swords?
- How did Taieri winger Mitchell Scott not get suspended for his foot trip of Josh Renton, which allegedly ended Renton's season?
- Wasn't Erik Vaafusuaga the only candidate to coach Taieri in 2016? His reward was to be dumped when it was the players who dropped passes and missed tackles.
- How many times will Clive Woodward be quoted in the weeks the Lions are here?
- Why do junior club rugby teams play in age grades for the whole year, yet the main representative teams are picked on weight?
- Play in a junior secondary school rugby team. You get an eight-hour round trip to Wanaka and get to play 30 minutes under the law every player has to play half a game. And this is supposed to keep young players in the game?
