Super Rugby Champions

Crusaders call on experience

Both players began their Super Rugby careers 10 years ago, Bateman with the Crusaders and Delany with the Highlanders, and both have returned to New Zealand rugby after playing a number of seasons overseas.

Crusaders coach Scott Robertson said the pair's experience will be invaluable to the team as they attempt to go back-to-back.

"Tim and Mike are both playing outstanding rugby for their respective provincial teams, Canterbury and Bay of Plenty, and proving that they still have a heck of a lot to offer New Zealand rugby."

Crusaders not hot on Fiji

Exactly where the Super Rugby champions will play their matches in 2018 has yet to be made public, although chief executive Hamish Riach has already declared the competition schedule, released by Sanzaar last week, isn't conducive to his club transferring a fixture to the Fijian capital of Suva.

When the Chiefs transferred their "home" games against the Crusaders to Suva for the last two years, they did so in the knowledge that the Fijian government would invest around $1.6 million.