'We should be way more mature than that': Speculation over Black Ferns pay detracting from World Cup

Former All Blacks John Kirwan and Jeff Wilson have been left disappointed after reports surfaced last week over pay differences between the England women’s team and the Black Ferns.

Reports surfaced in the UK media over incentives for the Red Roses by the RFU that will pay NZD$30,000 per player for a World Cup victory while their New Zealand counterparts won’t receive a World Cup bonus.

NZRPA chief executive Rob Nichol responded by claiming the Black Ferns salaries were ‘the best in the world’ even factoring in England’s bonus scheme.

The Breakdown pundits said the focus on contracts while the World Cup is in progress has detracted from the spectacle over the first two weekends of competition.

“I’ll just say this, it’s disappointing for me, and I understand that World Rugby had clear reasons why they are playing all the games on the weekend at single venues, three on each day, but what happens is there is five days of discussion [in between],” Wilson said.

“We’ve been sidetracked by talking about who is going to get what if they win rather than talking about the fact there are games going on.

“We should be talking about the rugby, talk about that stuff afterwards.

“I understand why people want to talk about it because we are trying to highlight everything in the game. I don’t care about anything on the money side of it, all I care about is the teams and who is playing and who is on track.”

Former All Black great Kirwan said that everyone should be ‘more mature’ and understand that the nature of professional sport means different financial rewards will always be the case.

“What you need to realise right now is that the women’s game is still in the investment phase,” Kirwan explained to The Breakdown panel.

“So that’s why they are playing it on the weekends, it will be about cost. I get that.

“But I don’t understand why we are talking about the salaries and who is getting this and who is going to win that [financially], it’s a professional sport.

“We should be way more mature than that. Whatever someone gets paid is irrelevant.

“I read an article where they put the wages out, were they true or false?”

Guest panelist Black Ferns midfielder Chelsea Semple was in a unique position to comment on the matter.

Still under a contract with New Zealand Rugby, she disputed the figures reported and claimed the reports were ‘way off’ with the numbers they were suggesting.

“This whole thing came out mid week was a real shame and I hope the girls aren’t talking about it in camp because they have bigger things to focus on,” Semple said.

“That article that did come out, for me someone who is contracted, it wasn’t right, it was incorrect. The numbers weren’t correct, they were way off.

“It was frustrating. All of that chat is just creating rumours and it’s taking away from this amazing spectacle right now which is the Rugby World Cup.”