A second cousin of the 1971-72 North Otago All Black Phil Gard, Hamish Gard became the 125th player to represent the Crusaders when he came off the bench during the 54-19 drubbing of the 2007 champion Bulls outfit at Loftus. Gard had earlier appeared 11 times for Canterbury in 2007, scoring four tries. This tally included a spectacular length of the field effort, which Gard finished off, during Canterbury’s Ranfurly Shield challenging success against Waikato in Hamilton. Equally at home as a first or second-five-eighth, Gard came to Canterbury from Manawatu, where his father Ross has enjoyed success coaching the Marist club. Gard arrived in Christchurch in 2005 to begin studying engineering at Canterbury University.