George Bridge commits to Crusaders and Canterbury through to 2022

Crusaders speedster George Bridge has become the first player to ink a long-term deal with the club through to the 2022 season, and has also re-committed to Canterbury through to 2021. 
 
The 23-year-old was born in Gisborne but moved to Christchurch and progressed through the Crusaders and Canterbury development programmes.

In 2014, Bridge was named Canterbury Under 19 Player of the Year, and the following year he was a member of the New Zealand Under 20 squad that won the Junior World Championship in Italy.

From there, he made the Canterbury Mitre 10 Cup team for the 2016 season, and did enough during Canterbury’s Premiership-winning campaign that year to earn a spot in the Crusaders squad for 2017.

On the re-signing, Crusaders Head Coach Scott Robertson said: “George is one of the form players of the Super Rugby competition, who continues to impress us with his skillset, pace and attacking nous. He had a superb debut season for us last year and has made massive strides again this year - he’s a player who is knocking on the door of international rugby.

“George has played some big minutes in 2018 but regardless of whether he’s on the wing or at fullback he delivers consistent performances for us which has been a hallmark of his career so far. At just 23 years of age his best rugby is still ahead of him, and we are thrilled he’ll be playing in a Crusaders jersey for at least the next four seasons."

Bridge was the last year’s Crusaders’ Rookie of the Year, scoring eight tries during his debut season, including two hat-trick games in consecutive weeks against the Stormers and Cheetahs.