THE MONEY MEN!
Are the world’s best players also the highest paid? We take a look at the stats
ATIONALITY: New
Zealander. Position:
Fly-half. Age: Thirties.
League: Top 14. Tick those
boxes and you can expect
to be on one of rugby’s biggest salaries.
Determining the highest-paid players in
the world is complicated. Charles Piutau,
the Bristol Bears full-back who won 17
All Black caps, is widely described as
rugby’s highest-paid player, reportedly
earning almost £1m a year.
Rugby is not like the NFL in America,
however, where player salaries are
public knowledge – Minnesota Vikings
quarterback Kirk Cousins was paid
$22.5m (£17.2m) in 2018,
for example. Add in
different payment
structures and tax
systems, not to mention
international squad
payments, like England
players’ £22,000 match
fee, and bonuses, and
you realise it is difficult to make
a straightforward comparison.
However, it is possible to look at
trends – like those mentioned at the
start. Esportif have collated information
from across the globe on its Rugby
Intelligence database and the key
findings when looking at the 50 highest
base salaries (ie, not taking in Test
payments, etc) provide interesting
contrasts when compared with the
breakdown of Rugby World’s list of the
100 best players in the world right now.
Kiwis dominate both lists, with 34% of
those commanding the highest salaries
and 21% of the
world’s best
hailing from New
Zealand. Yet
while 36% of the big earners play club
rugby in France, only a tenth of those on
our list play in the Top 14. The Gallagher
Premiership has 22% of the money men
and 22% of the world’s best players.
Interestingly, 14% of the highest salaries
are at Kiwi teams, NZ Rugby ensuring
the best All Blacks are incentivised to
stay at home. Japan’s Top League is a
growing financial power, too, with 12%
of the top earners according to Esportif.
The age profiles also provide a good
comparison. When it comes to the best
players in the world, the majority are in
the mid- to late twenties bracket yetmost of those players on the highest
salaries are aged 30 or above (52%).
This marries with the tendency of
those in the latter stages of their career
to move overseas and capitalise on
their reputation in terms of contracts.
The other big contrast comes in terms
of positions. Back-rowers (18%) and
back-three players (19%) hegemonise
our list of the world’s 100 best, but it’s
fly-halves who command the most
money, with nearly a quarter (24%) of the
top earners wearing the No 10 shirt. The
other positions that bring in the highest
salaries are No 8 (14%), then lock,
full-back and inside-centre (all 10%).
Maybe a few of those featured from
P35-71 should ask for a pay rise having
made it onto our list of the 100 best! nN
In the money
Piutau in action
for the Baa-BaasPICS
Getty ImagesFront Row
“I RETIRED in 2011 due to a knee injury.
I was 32 so close to the end anyway. I
didn’t have a clue what to do and spent
three or four years trying to figure it out.
“I invented a rugby ball concept that
helps with individual technical skills. It’s
a normal ball but has different-coloured
pictures on it, all representing a rugby
technique. It’s called PlayBall and that
became my project.
“We do training camps in junior clubs
and schools all over France. Now, after
five years, we’re launching in the USA.
The focus is on ‘attentional capabilities’
so everything to do with cognitive
abilities, how you learn, taking in
information and analysing situations.
“When I was playing I had the physical
capabilities for taking the ball up, but
I’ve always been very focused on my
passing ability. Sometimes rugby gets
criticised for getting too physical.
Slowly it’s changing and we’re getting
back to rugby being more skilful.”W H E R E
ARE THEY
NOW? BRIAN LIEBENBERGAge 39 Position Centre Teams Grenoble, Stade Français, France
American dream
Kirk Cousins