{"id":44507,"date":"2025-08-05T04:57:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T04:57:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/44507\/"},"modified":"2025-08-05T04:57:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T04:57:13","slug":"former-all-black-flyer-chooses-western-force-for-super-rugby-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/44507\/","title":{"rendered":"Former All Black flyer chooses Western Force for Super Rugby return"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Western Force<\/a> have put pen to paper on a deal with 19-cap All Black George Bridge<\/a>, who returns to Super Rugby after three seasons at Montpellier.<\/p>\n

Bridge enjoyed an 82-cap career at the Crusaders<\/a> between 2017 and 2022, winning titles each season with the club and earning an All Blacks<\/a> call-up in 2018.<\/p>\n

Three Test showings in his rookie campaign were followed by a Rugby World Cup<\/a> selection in 2019, where the now 30-year-old would claim Rieko Ioane\u2019s No. 11 jersey.<\/p>\n

Covid-19, injuries and the emergence of one Caleb Clarke<\/a> disrupted Bridge\u2019s post-World Cup All Blacks career, leading to his 2022 move to the Top 14.<\/p>\n

After starting 33 of 39 games with Montpellier, Bridge has made the move to Western Australia<\/a> on a two-year deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cGeorge is well known to a number of people on our staff, and they can\u2019t speak highly enough of his professionalism, approach to the game and his rugby knowledge,\u201d Western Force head coach Simon Cron said of the signing.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s got a massive left foot kick. He can play multiple positions. He\u2019s a brilliant player. An amazing talent. He\u2019ll add to the guys that we have in the squad.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know when we have injuries, it\u2019s important we have depth so we can progress deep into Super Rugby finals.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s got a huge amount to give. He\u2019s been playing at Montpellier<\/a> at Top 14<\/a> level. I know a few NZ franchises were chasing him hard, but he wanted to join the Force.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know George and his family were keen to come here and make Perth their chosen home, which is what we\u2019re all about. He\u2019ll add a lot to our environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bridge himself explained why Perth was the right landing spot for him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m excited to be moving to WA and joining the Western Force,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re a club heading in the right direction, and I\u2019m keen to take on the new challenge and contribute to the club\u2019s success.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always loved my time in Perth, and with friends and good connections among the staff and players, it felt like the right fit.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Western Force have put pen to paper on a deal with 19-cap All Black George Bridge, who…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":44508,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-44507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44507\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}