England rugby players to earn £70,000 each for autumn tests sweep

02 November 2021 - 09:57 By Reuters
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England have the Springboks of South Africa waiting.
England have the Springboks of South Africa waiting.
Image: David Rogers/Getty Images

England players will earn 70,000 pounds ($95,585) each if they win all three of their autumn internationals under a revised pay deal with the governing Rugby Football Union (RFU), the Telegraph newspaper reported.

Eddie Jones' men will receive around 23,000 pounds for victory, with England set to play Tonga on Saturday, Australia on Nov. 13 and world champions South Africa a week later.

The players agreed to a pay cut last season due to the financial impact of the Covid-19 pandemic but even then remained the best-paid team in world rugby.

The Telegraph reported that Tonga's players will earn 500 pounds for the game at Twickenham.

"That's just the system we work with," said Tonga chief executive Peter Harding. "We are not being treated any differently to Australia or South Africa."

The RFU said in July it would make a "goodwill gesture of a donation" towards the Tongan Rugby Union and announced a development partnership which will see both bodies swapping coaches and support staff.

"What we will be able to get is access to expertise to help and assist local staff population and have a really good exchange of ideas," Harding said.

"What they will get is a tour where they will learn how to be more agile and because they won’t have the resources they usually have at their fingertips." ($1 = 0.7323 pounds) 


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