The Canterbury Rugby Football Union is the proud owner of a beautiful piece of pounamu sculpture thanks to the generosity of AMI Stadium managers Vbase.

CRFU Chief Executive Hamish Riach and Canterbury Chairman David Rhodes accepted the sculpture from Vbase Chairman Gill Cox at a function at AMI Stadium on Wednesday night.

Vbase Chief Executive Bryan Pearson said: "The purpose of the sculpture and presentation by Vbase to Canterbury rugby was to recognise the partnership between us and recognise how much we depend on each other at AMI Stadium.

"It is also to celebrate the marvellous year the Crusaders and Canterbury had in winning the Rebel Sport Super 14 and Air New Zealand Cup.

"And it is also to recognise that we have just confirmed an agreement whereby Canterbury rugby will be playing at AMI Stadium up to at least 2042.

"We are also involved in a number of other discussions in other areas and we hope our deep partnership will become even closer.

"As we heard last night pounamu is the toughest of stones and that represents the strength and longevity aspect of our relationship."

Riach said: "It is a stunning pounamu sculpture signifying close relationships and new beginnings.  It is a very special piece of art and we were all quite staggered by the generosity of Vbase in commissioning the work specially for the occasion."

West Coast pounamu artist Ian Boustridge said he took "a couple of weeks" to carve the sculpture.

A big Crusaders fan, he spoke eloquently of the appropriateness of using pounamu and the unique nature of the stone.

"The stone represents strength and durability and the koru symbol represents the relationship and growth between the two organisations," he said.

The stone is a beautiful translucent piece known as "flower pounamu" and was taken from the Marsden pounamu field between Greymouth and Lake Brunner.