Read: No regrets,

Kieran Read is neither defined by his failures, nor tortured by them. The great All Blacks No 8 and hugely successful captain has enjoyed the chance to sit back and reflect in recent weeks and gladly reports there has been little in the way of sleep lost.

Nor should there be. The man won two World Cups in an 11-year All Blacks career studded with victories and silverware; he also lifted four Super Rugby crowns during 156 appearances for a Crusaders outfit that has universally set the standard in the professional game. A bum note or two at the tail end in no way scuppers the symphony of success.

Read’s storied rugby career is not quite over as he prepares for one lost shot at the Japan Top 14 in 2021, the ravages of Covid-19 permitting. But his international body of work has had its final chapter written and it’s one the 34-year-old Cantab has well and truly come to terms with.

Read today was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit to become rugby’s latest addition to the nation’s honours system. He said he was humbled to be recognised by ‘‘something bigger than rugby’’. And, as is the way at such moments, the most recent All Blacks captain (52 tests in total) has taken the time to reflect on what has gone before.

For Read, of course, the most recent experience is the most keenly felt. But, as he tells Stuff in an interview from his home in Christchurch, the All Blacks’ failed tilt at sporting immortality at the World Cup in Japan last year did not keep him up at nights during lockdown, nor will it as the planet opens back up again.

‘‘Not at all,’’ says the personable loose forward with a chuckle. ‘‘It’s certainly something you have little reflections on, going over the whatifs a little. But, hey, it can’t be changed. It is a tough game to be part of and it doesn’t always go your way.

‘‘There can only be one little thing that is just off and it’s expanded on a world stage and a big occasion. [The World Cup] was still a great time and, looking back, some of my best times as an All

Black, even though it wasn’t as successful as the others. It’s all part of your journey.’’

Read, or course, had his pinnacles as an intrinsic part of the All Blacks teams that triumphed at the 2011 and ’15 global tournaments, achieving the first back-to-back victories in the history of the event.

‘‘They were special,’’ he reflects. ‘‘Heading into 2011 at home, my first World Cup, and you’re going ‘we’ve just got to win this thing with all the history that’s behind us’. That was a different kind of tournament in terms of the pressure, and it probably set us up for the last decade with our mental ability.

‘‘It was different in ’15 when you came in with a lot more confidence, in a team that was rightly considered the world’s best. They were good years and great to be part of.’’

But Read doesn’t measure success strictly by the shiny objects locked away in his sideboard.

‘‘The World Cups stand out … but I look at the experiences I’ve had, the trips to South Africa with the Crusaders or end-of-year tours where you got to travel around, go