Super fly guys top the rugby wages charts

THE average salaries of rugby players across Europe’s three major leagues for the 2017-18 season have been revealed.

The fascinating data shows which positions are the most valued by clubs in the Guinness PRO14, Top 14 and Aviva Premiership.

Top sports agency, Esportif Intelligence, has collected data, sifted through it and produced a graphic outlining which positions got paid the most this season from the three leagues in Europe.

With wealthy benefactors in England and France, we’ve seen a huge number of players from South Africa, Australia and New Zealand make the move to the Aviva Premiership and Top 14.

Others have moved from the Guinness PRO14 to England with Liam Williams one of the high-profile players to join Aviva Premiership big guns Saracens from Scarlets.

Williams departed west Wales in a reputed £300,000-plus year deal at the end of last term, while Dan Biggar leaves the Ospreys for Northampton Saints for a reported £650,000-a -year wage at the end of this season.

And next summer, Wales and Lions scrum-half Rhys Webb will also leave the Liberty Stadium region for French heavyweights Toulon.

But what position is paid the most in each league and who gets the least from the club’s coffers?

From the study, flyhalves demand the highest salary in the Top 14 and the Aviva Premiership, with the likes of Owen Farrell at Saracens reportedly commanding in the range of £750,000

Full-backs top the list for the Guinness PRO14 with Ulster and Scarlets having two high-profile No.15s on their books in Charles Piutau and Leigh Halfpenny respectively, while Glasgow have Scottish star Stuart Hogg.

Piutau is currently earning £500,000 (the biggest salary in the division alongside Jonathan Sexton), but will double that to a whopping £1m a year when he moves to Bristol next season.

Halfpenny saw his wages drop from the £600,000 he was earning in Toulon when he returned to Wales, but he still thought to take home around £350,000 a year.

Tight-head props are also in the upper echelons of the Top 14 and Premiership salary stakes, while they remain in the middle for the Guinness PRO14.

In the Top 14, loosehead props are on average the lowest paid players, while in the Premiership and PRO14 it’s the two wing positions that come off worse in the wallet.

Last season, Esportif disclosed the average figure in the Aviva Premiership was about £200,000 a man.

That was some 15%, or £30,000 a year, more than in the PRO12, and the gulf is set to widen to 20% this season with England’s flagship benefiting from a rise in television and other revenue.

There are also other factors to be taken into consideration, with England squad members getting hefty fees from the RFU and Wales’ stars on chunky match appearances and bonuses for Test rugby, which can bump up earnings significantly.

England players pocket a Test match fee of between £17,000 and £22,000 – the highest in international rugby – per appearance, and get bonuses on top.

Wales were getting around £5,300 per game, with an image rights payment of £1,500 per player.