Ioane sticks around at Crusaders

Cape Town - Crusaders chief executive Hamish Riach has confirmed that former Wallaby wing Digby Ioane will stay at the Crusaders until the end of 2018.

Ioane recently told Fox Sports that being at the Crusaders had reignited his love for rugby and revitalised his career despite making just three Super Rugby appearances in the previous campaign.

Riach has said there are a number of reasons as to why Ioane signed two separate one-year deals instead of a combined two-year deal.

"It was a slightly complicated structure to the deal," Riach said.

"It wasn't a normal contract, in that we did two one-year deals, for a whole lot of reasons.

"While we always expected it was the equivalent of a two-year deal, there was that possibility that Digby might have decided to potentially make other choices for that second year.

"We've loved having him, he's been a really popular member of the group. It's been a win-win.

"We always had the strong assumption that Digby was coming for those two years, so the fact he has confirmed that is great and it's exactly what we hoped to hear him say. We're delighted and looking forward to him doing year two with us."