The Albany Gazette - Former All Black Bridge hailed for influence at Western Force

Bridge crossed for one of five tries in their 35-19 defeat of Moana Pasifika in Pukekohe on Friday.

It ended the team's eight-match winless run, which included season-opening losses in Perth against the ACT Brumbies and Auckland Blues.

Cron hailed the leadership on and off the field of 30-year-old Bridge, who won six titles with the Canterbury Crusaders.

He went on to play 19 Tests for New Zealand, scoring 12 tries, before a three-season stint at French club Montpellier.

"Bridgie is an amazing leader for us and a great man. He's a professional," Cron said.

"He's really driven to be the best he can be. He'll be the first one to review the whole game and come to us and talk about the solutions, not only around his game but around the team.

"So yeah, we love having him."

Employed at outside centre, Bridge made a number of incisive runs although he was guilty of one glaring error.

Having crossed the try-line, he was too slow to ground the ball and lost it in a strong tackle from Moana winger Tevita Ofa.

It mattered little as the Force powered 35-7 clear, with Darby Lancaster, Darcy Swain, Carlo Tizzano and Leonel Oviedo also touching down. Ben Donaldson landed all five conversion attempts.

Cron was unimpressed that his side leaked two late tries to Melani Matavao and Allan Craig to squander a bonus point.

"That's not good enough from us. There's some great things we can take from it and and a few things at the end that we we can be better at."

The Force play the Otago Highlanders next week, the second leg of a three-match tour of New Zealand.

(W.Walker--TAG)