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Cape Town - Recent Montpellier signing Aaron Cruden was critical of the media over how they handled the announcement of his salary.
The All Black flyhalf recently signed a contract that will see him leave Waikato for Montpellier at the end of the Super Rugby season.
The contract stipulates that the playmaker will make a whopping $3.6 million over the next three seasons at the French club, the second highest salary in the Top 14 after Dan Carter's Racing 92 contract.
Cruden insinuated his frustration when addressing reporters about the release of the figures, adding that his decision wasn't just about the money.
"I don't know, how would you like to have your salary reported out there for everyone to know? It is what it is, you guys are going to report your stories and different things," Cruden told Stuff.co.nz .
"But it's not always about the money, it's about an experience. Obviously money helps, but experiencing something different, and feeling that the time was right for us to move on, was a big contributing factor."
Cruden also addressed the way in which the news was broken.
"I just wanted to break the news myself and do it through an avenue that I trusted, so that's why I put it out on the Chiefs page," he said.
"Maybe looking back at it I should've held my tongue, but I said what I believe, so as long as I'm saying that, then I'm pretty comfortable with what was said.
"Now that the report's out there and the decision's done it's about getting excited about the rugby that I have in the near future."
