Saturday's National Provincial Championship final will carry some extra emotional weight for Canterbury wing George Bridge.
The match against Wellington at Orangetheory Stadium will double as his NZ rugby swansong, as he prepares to fly to France to join Top 14 champions Montpellier, after signing a five-year deal last week.
The last season has been testing for Bridge, forced to confront his own rugby mortality, after falling out of favour with both the Crusaders and All Blacks selectors.
The fourth-leading try-scorer in Crusaders history, Bridge was usurped in the starting line-up by breakthrough wing Leicester Fainga'anuku during Super Rugby Pacific and was then overlooked for the All Blacks' series against Ireland and Rugby Championship squads, after being used only sparingly last year.
Bridge, 27, admits he's been forced to swallow a dose of realism and take an objective look at his situation, which led to the "really tough" call to leave NZ shores and strike on a European deal, while his iron was still warm.
"I knew the position I was in," the 19-test All Black admitted. "You can't really dwell on not making teams, the only thing you can do is concentrate on what's next.
In 2019, Bridge played four tests for the All Blacks during their Rugby World Cup campaign in Japan - including the semi-final defeat to England - and had his sights set on France next year, which was a target he confesses was difficult to let go off.
Given the depth of talent in the All Blacks backs - particularly the back three - Bridge realises regaining the favour of head coach Ian Foster is unlikely and the time is right to make his move.
"To be honest, the goal was to be going to the World Cup next year," he said. "Obviously, things didn't pan out that way, but that's just the nature of professional sport.
"The decision to go overseas was really tough, because of that goal that I wanted to get to, but at the end of the day, you've got to make the best of what you can.
"It was a decision sort of made for me, rather than sticking around and potentially putting myself in a worse position next year.
"It was a really tough decision at the time, but soon after I signed, I got my head around it and now it's something to look forward to.
"Once I get through this weekend, I think the excitement will start to grow. I've been in Christchurch for 10 years and it's been great, but it's a good time to have a change of scenery."
Gisborne-born Bridge says his focus in his final season for Canterbury has been all about having fun and he now has a golden opportunity to farewell the red-and-black jersey on the ideal note.
This year has been his first full campaign for the province since 2018, when they lost to Auckland in the final.
To claim the silverware this weekend, they'll need to get past a Wellington side that has been in scintillating form.
Riding a nine-game winning streak and fresh off a 54-19 semi-final demolition of Auckland, the Lions have lost just once, since they were pasted 43-10 by the Cantabrians back in week two.
"Obviously, they've been playing some pretty unreal footy lately," noted Bridge
"After we played them down here, they've been on a red-hot streak and you look at the way they're playing, I think their big players have really been stepping up
"They've got some pretty massive bodies that can really get them going forward.
"It's kind of cliche, but if you can win that physical battle, especially around the breakdown, and we can look after that area, then we'll be in a pretty good position to go alright."
Bridge isn't prepared to shut the door on a potential return to New Zealand, but if that doesn't transpire,67 Crusaders appearances and four Super Rugby titles still provide plenty of championship-laden memories from his time in Christchurch.
"It's been pretty amazing. The city was a ghost town when I first moved down, and to see how it's grown and being a part of that [has been great].
"Rugbywise, wearing both the red-and-black jerseys… they've been extremely successful during my time here, but just the people I've been around.
"I was pretty naive when I first moved down, thinking I was going to crack it playing rugby, but for some reason, I thought I was going to and obviously it worked out alright.
"I don't regret anything I've done and it's been pretty unreal the whole time I've been here."
Join us at 7pm, Saturday for live updates of the NPC final between Canterbury and Wellington
