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As Rugby Union continues to grow as a sport in the professional age, there is an increasing level of interest in the numbers behind the teams. Contract situations, negotiation processes, scouting and teams’ front office personnel. It’s not surprising when you think how obsessed rugby is about business jargon.
As Rugby Union continues to grow as a sport in the professional age, there is an increasing level of interest in the numbers behind the teams. Contract situations, negotiation processes, scouting and teams’ front office personnel. It’s not surprising when you think how obsessed rugby is about business jargon.
Rugby is a long way off the NFL or even the Premier League when it comes to the freedom of information around players’ earnings and team spending. In many ways that’s a positive. Like injuries, players are entitled to privacy around their personal information and I think they should hold onto it for as long as they can before the inevitable happens.
Dashtickets.nz have released a report that outlines Rugby’s top earners in the 2024/2025 season. Would you care to take a guess who tops the charts?
It’s worth noting, that the report leans heavily on the word “approximately”. Take from that what you will. The report also states that “Sources include official club statements, league salary cap info, and reputable media outlets.”
In my experience these numbers are very much ballpark figures. Clubs rarely if ever release figures, salary caps gives the total budget and rugby has yet to develop the NFL’s “Insider” reporter who has access to salary information from players agent,
However, for the moment, we’ll take ballpark figures and while the exact number may be unclear, the order of the rankings don’t look too askew.
Lets take a look at the rankings below:
1 Owen Farrell – £1.2m
2 Richie Mo’unga – £1.04m
3 Finn Russell – £1m
4 Cheslin Kolbe – £930k
5 Faf de Klerk – £900k
6 Siya Kolisi – £808k
7 Dan Biggar – £800k
8 Maro Itoje – £800k
9 Beauden Barrett – £780k
10 Antoine Dupont – £700k
Below is more detail on the players’ club, their current contract length, their current salary and their previous salary. The report also includes Rugby League players. And because I’m not afraid to admit I know absolutely nothing about Rugby league, I’m going to wrap up and let you get into the numbers yourself. Enjoy.