Rugby's rich list: The world's highest-paid players in 2021
A former All Blacks star and a World Cup-winning Springbok have jointly topped an updated list of rugby’s highest-played players.
A year-and-a-half after WalesOnline published a list of the sport’s 15 top earners, ruck.co.uk has released its own top 10 rich list.
The website outlined that estimations had been made based on “figures on reports from Forbes, reputable news outlets and a variety of official sources to get us as close to the mark as possible”.
“All figures mentioned are before tax and do not include the array of bonuses and extra fees stashed away in the fine print of every contract. Players’ various sponsorship deals are also not included but, in some cases, add zeroes to the end of their pay cheques.”
The list released by ruck.co.uk shows some movers and shakers from last year’s list from WalesOnline.
Springboks halfback Faf de Klerk, Ireland first-five Johnny Sexton, England midfielder Manu Tuilagi, Scotland fullback Stuart Hogg, France halfback Morgan Parra, Los Pumas first-five Nicolas Sanchez, Wales first-five Dan Biggar and ex-All Blacks loose forward Steven Luatua don’t feature on the updated list.
Conversely, three players who didn’t make last year’s WalesOnline list have made the cut by ruck.co.uk‘s estimates.
All in all, the updated list features three Springboks, two All Blacks, two Englishmen, one Wallaby, one Frenchman and one Scot, all of whom – bar two players, who both featured in the Top League this year – play their club rugby in Europe.
With all of that in mind, here is ruck.co.uk‘s list of the 10 highest-paid players in 2021:
9 = Owen Farrell (England/Saracens) – £750,000
Owen Farrell is among the Premiership’s top-earners heading into the final year of his Saracens contract after helping guide the London-based club back to England’s top-flight this season following their their relegation into the RFU Championship due to salary cap breaches.
9 = Michael Hooper (Australia/Toyota Verblitz) – £750,000 (A$1.38m/¥117.54m)
Michael Hooper’s decision to skip this year’s Super Rugby with the Waratahs and take sabbatical in the Top League with Toyota Verblitz proved a lucrative one that made the Wallabies captain the highest-paid Australian player this year.
7 = Beauden Barrett (New Zealand/Suntory Sungoliath) – £780,000 (NZ$1.5m/¥122.24m)
Like Hooper, Beauden Barrett missed this year’s Super Rugby campaign with the Blues to take up a sabbatical deal with Suntory Sungoliath in the Top League in a move that makes him the top-paid current All Black and the Top League’s highest-earner.
7 = Virimi Vakatawa (France/Racing 92) – £780,000 (€921,924)
A new name on this list after missing out on WalesOnline’s selection last year, New Zealand-born, Fijian-raised French star Virimi Vakatawa is reportedly rugby’s seventh-equal best-paid player at Top 14 outfit Racing 92.
6. Maro Itoje (England/Saracens) – £800,000
Farrell’s England and Saracens teammate Maro Itoje has been ranked as the highest-paid English player, but he would have added an extra £200,000 to his salary had Racing 92 ceded to his demands when the Parisian club sought his signature last year.
4 = Cheslin Kolbe (South Africa/Toulon) – £850,000 (R17.32m/€1m)
The star of the 2019 World Cup, Cheslin Kolbe broke his way onto rugby’s rich list when earned himself a fortune with his off-season move from French and European champions Toulouse to domestic rivals Toulon.
4 = Finn Russell (Scotland/Racing 92) – £850,000 (€1m)
In a £315,000 mark-up from last year’s estimations by WalesOnline, exciting Scotland playmaker Finn Russell has been ranked as Britain’s highest-paid player with Racing 92.
3. Eben Etzebeth (South Africa/Toulon) – £900,000 (R18.34m/€1.06m)
Into his second season of his three-year deal with Toulon, giant Springboks lock Eben Etzebeth – another newbie on this list – sits as the highest-paid forward in professional rugby.
1 = Charles Piutau (New Zealand/Bristol Bears) – £1m (NZ$1.92m)
Retaining his place as rugby’s joint-equal top-earner, former All Blacks utility back Charles Piutau – who remains on the radar of Tonga in a what would be a massive international eligibility switch – became the sport’s first million-pound player when he joined the Bristol Bears in 2017.
1 = Handre Pollard (South Africa/Montpellier) – £1m (R20.38m/€1.18m)
Like Piutau, Springboks pivot Handre Pollard remains at the summit of rugby’s highest-earners following his move from the Bulls to Montpellier following the 2019 World Cup.
Comments on RugbyPass
The game was already over leave the bloke alone ….from a Welsh fan 😀👍
2 Go to commentsShamefully the Toulouse players acted like footballers, falling down feigning injury at the slightest knock. About time refs penalised this play acting.
6 Go to commentsAnother non Scot for the anti Scot Townsend. Soon there will be no Scottish born and bred players in the National team.
1 Go to commentsGreat comeback to the playing field by Richie Mo’unga after the loss of his father. A great performance by Richie . I know him well and he is a great guy. On and off the field one of the greatest for the Crusaders. Scott Robertson would have loved him in his All Black’s side. A very missed player and person.
1 Go to commentsYeah nah he comes across as a funny bloke, but that stopped abruptly after the Nutcracker Prince debacle✋
2 Go to commentsAt this point I can’t watch him without thinking he’s a dirty slimebag. He should have been banned for the same amount of time that Quinn was out. It took Tupaea near on a fricking year to get fit enough to play again and his leg will never be the same. The other crap thing is that he was at ABs level and now he has to claw his way back there when he could have had several games under his belt.
4 Go to commentsThe Black Ferns 7’s have been without Captain Sarah Hirini now since Dec 23 in Dubai where she suffered a bad ACL injury - hopefully she is on the road to recovery for Madrid and Paris. Now also have Tyler King and Shiray kaka on the Injured List but the Team still found a way to win in Singapore and claim the overall Title.
1 Go to commentsUtter grub, hope he gets his leg broken. Shocking he is still playing after intentionally breaking quinn tupaeas knee
4 Go to commentsGreat to see NZ 7s teams finally coming into form and playing at the level that is expected of them.
2 Go to commentsChief Cheapshot on the market again.
4 Go to commentsCrusaders went all in to buy Hotham and Kemara staight from Hamilton Boys. Then they picked up Reihana and Hohepa; all have been dropped for superstar Havili, who is a very good fullback, that’s it. Ennor and Goodhue were schoolboy stars too but went backwards at the Crusaders. Maybe they have finally decided to give another poach Levi Aumua the ball?
13 Go to commentsJoe S has some talent to pick from. The Reds loosies look the best in Super? Aus might just give Razor a headache this year. Int. experience v Cantab greenhorn:) Should be fun.
13 Go to commentsEnd to end play, “THE FANS” this game was entertainment of the best. The conditions added to the spectacle.
1 Go to commentsSorry to say, but sadly the sadas were just ordinary and havilli at 10 as an abs selection just won’t cut it. He’s better suited in the centre’s and is a victim of past charge down kicks, he’s too slow under pressure. There’s better talent further north and I don’t mean dmac however I believe razor will sort him out. A feature of his presents on the park is the fact that the guys will follow him.
13 Go to commentsMarler was brilliant throughout both in the scrum and open play. His slap made virtually no contact with Ramos who milked it for a penalty when he could have been a decent sportsman and laughed it off, it was non-violent and shouldn't have been penalised. Smith failed repeatedly to kick when necessary and put up a couple of bombs into the TLS 22 that just handed back possession at key moments to the other side.
3 Go to commentsCros was outstanding and rightly awarded France TVs player of the match award. Mallia was brilliant as usual (the y is below the 6 on a UK keyboard and he deserves better than that). Level also seems to have been scored harshly as he walked the ball into touch under pressure from a Lynagh kick from well outside his own half which should never have led to a 50-22. Agree with BullShark that Dupont, while class at times, seemed to go missing for patches in the second half with props, hookers and wings frequently filling in at 9 as he couldn't get off the deck and up to the next ruck on time. A 7 by his standards at best, his kicking was also too long, too often. Kinghorn's overall contribution was worth well more than a five.
6 Go to commentsThe Harlequins team must be in minus figures. Did the reporter actually watch the game?
6 Go to commentsHow on earth did Walker escape a red card? Not dangerous? Dupont has his face in a mask earlier this season. Shocking decision. What is the point of TMOs? We had the Fassi ‘non-penalty try’ yesterday and now this.
2 Go to commentsCould have been a different result but yet again French tv able to affect the result by not showing the very clear high shot on harlequin centre if this would have been on a French player would have been on screen at least five times
3 Go to commentsAmazing. The losing team’s ratings are higher than the winning team’s. Mallia definitely didn’t deserve a y. What game were you watching? Should have got a w or an x. ADP hardly featured in that second half. At one point I wondered when he’d been subbed. Seems to me as if he gets an automatic 9 just for getting onto the team sheet.
6 Go to comments