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The million-pound jackpot England will put on the line against the All Blacks
England are set to split a jackpot of over £1.2 million should they defeat the All Blacks in their World Cup semi-final in Yokohama on Saturday.
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Victory would see England reach the World Cup final for the first time since 2007, and, according to the Telegraph, it is believed to be the biggest single bonus payment for a test match.
Splitting the win bonus would see each player in the English 31-man squad reel in a little over £41,298 (NZ$83,435) – a total of £1.28 million (NZ$2.586m) – more than double that of what the All Blacks will collect should they reach their third successive World Cup final.
Steve Hansen’s men will collect NZ$35,000 (£17,324) each if they beat Eddie Jones’ side at the International Stadium Yokohama, totalling in a prize pool of NZ$1.08 million (£536,300).
If the All Blacks can go one further and win an unprecedented third straight World Cup title next week, the New Zealanders would earn themselves an additional top-up of NZ$115,000 (£57,000) per player.
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That pales in comparison to the payout England would receive if they claimed their second-ever World Cup crown, with the Rugby Football Union offering its players a final win bonus of £82,597 (NZ$166,872) per player for a total jackpot of £2,560,500 (NZ$5.173m).
Defeat would see England head into the third-and-fourth play-off match empty-handed, though, as under the agreement with the Rugby Players’ Association, payments for the knockout stages are only triggered if the side progress to the next round.
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Members of the England squad have already received a hefty payout this tournament thanks to their 40-16 quarter-final win over the Wallabies in Oita last week, which earned each player £24,779 (NZ$50,000).
Maro Itoje believes England are poised to dethrone the All Blacks when the teams meet on Saturday in Yokohama https://t.co/JcP4V8AxP3
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 25, 2019
Prior to that, Jones’ side collected £512,100 (NZ$1.034m) – £16,519 (NZ$33,373) per player – for qualifying out of Pool C, which they topped ahead of France, Argentina, Tonga and the United States.
The players have already earned £13,656 (NZ$27,589) for each of their four pool matches, and if England are to go on to lift the Webb Ellis Cup, the squad would trigger nearly £7 million (NZ$14.142m) in payouts across the tournament.
That equates to individual payouts of about £225,000 (NZ$454,571) for each player in the squad.
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While the financial incentives are clear for both England and New Zealand, former All Blacks prop Wyatt Crockett, who was part of the 2015 World Cup-winning side, said money won’t be the sole motivating factor behind striving for victory in Japan.
“There is so much that goes into winning a Rugby World Cup. Money comes and goes, but what doesn’t is that trophy,” Crockett, who pocketed NZ$150,000 (£74,245) for his side’s success four years ago, told the New Zealand Herald earlier this year.
“You can always say that you have won a World Cup and that is very special for myself and the guys.
“This World Cup is going to be incredibly tough and the motivation is to get your name and your team into history – a three-peat would be massive for the boys. As a player you want to be a player who has gone out there and won a World Cup.”
Rugby World Cup sandwich survey with All Blacks legend Justin Marshall:
