Thomas Piketty didn't have anything to say about the Rugby World Cup while he was here. Perhaps he should have. The French economist had much to say about income inequality and he would have found a good example of that among the 20 nations competing for the Webb Ellis trophy.Since 1999, when the first professional Rugby World Cup was held, the tournament has been a huge money-spinner. This year's event is expected to make a profit of R3-billion, which will be spread among the competing teams. But not equally.World Rugby has not yet revealed how much each national rugby union will get, but we can gauge from an angry outburst by the Tongan rugby president that some will get far less than others.Epi Taione, who could play anywhere from loose forward to wing and any other position in between when he turned out for Tonga and at least seven other teams including the Sharks, is derisive about the deal.The man who played Jonah Lomu in the movie Invictus claimed that Tonga would get only $1.58-million (about R21-million) a year while South Africa and the other Sanzar nations, Argentina, New Zealand and Australia, had received $18-million (R250-million) even before the tournament started."It's all colonial bulls**t," he told the New Zealand Herald.World Rugby makes the calculations based on world rankings. Before this weekend's games, New Zealand and Australia are ranked one and two, South Africa four and Argentina seven. Tonga are 12th.Is this a fair way of splitting the money? Taione doesn't think so. With World Rugby based in Dublin, the rankings were "worked out in a Gypsy caravan park in Ireland somewhere", he said.Thomas Piketty might agree with him...