EXCLUSIVE: Details of England women's lucrative new deal revealed
England’s women’s players will take their match fee earnings to nearly £2,000 in just five days when they face Canada in the second of their three match series at the Twickenham Stoop in London tomorrow night under a new deal thrashed out with the Rugby Football Union.
It is understood the deal agreed by the RFU, the Rugby Players Association and the women’s players’ representatives gives the match squad £900 per international and £1400 for signing the Elite Player Squad agreement which involves 35 players and there are scheduled to be eight matches this season. England defeated Canada 79-5 in the first test and will complete the series at Twickenham on Saturday.
The deal follows the ending of one year full-time contracts that were handed out to England players leading into this year’s Women’s World Cup which saw England beaten by New Zealand in the final. The RFU, the richest Union in the sport, is pumping millions of pounds into a new club league and plans to expand the women’s game but insists the 15-a side players, at present, do warrant full-time contracts and are concentrating on Sevens in the build up to that World Cup.
The new deal still leaves the England women a considerable way behind Dylan Hartley and the England men who pocket £22,000 a match. Samoa, who will play in front of 80,000 fans against England at Twickenham on Saturday can only look enviously at both the English men’s and women’s squads as their Pacific Islands Union is bankrupt. The Samoa players are due to receive £650 a match and the RFU has made a £75,000 goodwill donation to try and help their Union.
Damian Hopley, CEO of the Rugby Players Association, believes this is a significant moment for the women’s game in England and said:” This is a one year groundbreaking deal that is taking us in the right direction. Of course we wish there was more money but you have to look at the broader picture and the money that is being put into the women’s game. We will start the process earlier so there is a longer run-up to the next deal. This has been, for everyone, a complicated process and we have be going into unchartered territory and some curve balls have been thrown up.
“A lot of the players are still working full time and so it is a very different model for us to deal with. Those players have to take time off work, get cover and so this isn’t a case of putting money in your back pocket. Some of the women players have to pay for cover or supply teachers.
“It is very different from the deal agreed for the men. The player representatives did a brilliant job for the squad and it not a straight forward situation with some players who are students, others in full-time employment, therefore there is a discrepancy in terms of the model because not everyone is in the same employment situation. It is a start and that is the important thing.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Don’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
9 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
33 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
2 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
33 Go to commentsAh, good to find you Nick. Agree with everything about Cale. So much to like about his game
49 Go to commentsNot too bad. Questions at 6, lock and HB for me. The ABs will be a lot stronger once Jordan and Roigard return. Also, work needs to be made to secure Frizzell back for next season and maybe also Mo’unga; they’re just wasting time playing in japan
33 Go to commentsOn the title, i wonder for many of those people it is a case something like a belief in working smarter, not harder?
1 Go to commentsForget Sotutu. One of those whose top level is Super Rugby. Id take a punt on Wallace Sititi Finau ahead of Glass body Blackadder.
33 Go to commentsI’m a pensioner so I've been around a bit. My opinion of SBW is he is an elite athlete and a great New Zealander and roll model. He has been to the top and knows what he's talking about. To all the negative comments regarding SBW the typical New Zealand way, cut that tall poppy down.
17 Go to commentsI'm not listening to a guy moralise over others when this is the guy who walked out mid season on Canterbury RLFC when he had a contract with them, what a hypocrite. Those praising him are a joke.
17 Go to commentsI’d put Finau at 6 instead of Blackadder but that’s the only change I’d make. Can’t wait to see who Razor picks.
33 Go to commentsTamati Williams, Codie Taylor, and Same Cane? Not sure about Hoskins Sotutu at test level. Wasn’t that impressive last season. Need a balance between experience and talent/youth.
33 Go to commentsInteresting insight. Fantastic athlete, and a genuine human being.
17 Go to commentsThey played at night in Suva last weekend and it’s an afternoon game forecast for 19 degrees in Canberra this weekend. Heat change is a non issue.
1 Go to commentsWishing Rosie a speedy recovery
1 Go to commentsObscene that SA haven’t been knocking
1 Go to commentsChances of Blackadder being injured seem too high to give him serious consideration. ABs loosie combination finally looked good with 2 committed to tackling and clearing rucks in the centre and Ardie roaming. Hoskins/Ardie together would force one of them into where they don’t excel and don’t get to use their talent, or require a change in tactics. If we continue to evolve last years systems I would take Papali’i and Finau at 6 and 7 (conceding that Blackadder will be injured) and Ardie at 8.
33 Go to commentsArdie’s preferred position 7? Where do they get these writers from? I've no idea where he's playing in Japan, but the previous two seasons he wore the 7 jersey exactly twice.
17 Go to commentsNot good to hear Ulster described as “financially troubled”. Did not think it was getting to that level. I would hope the Irish system of spreading players of talent away from Leinster would kick in now. Better to have a Leinster fringe player with Ulster or Connacht, then getting only a few games a season in Dublin. 10, for example, would seem to be a case for spreading the talent. I would not be at all adverse to a SA man coming in as head coach/DR. Ludeke is worth trying. Certainly got a long and impressive coaching career at this level…..149 games in SR, then Japan, 30 years experience. And Ulster’s ledger of successful SA coaches and players is on the positive side. Is talk of Ruan Pienaar interested in coming back as a coach…..could be a good combination with Ludeke. And Pienaar and family would have no settling in to do, one would judge. He loved life in Ulster when there, by all reports.
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