What France players will be paid if they win the Rugby World Cup

The France team find themselves on the cusp of a substantial earnings bonus if they manage to secure victory in the Rugby World Cup on home soil later this year.

It has been confirmed that Les Bleus endeavour to claim the Webb Ellis trophy is now accompanied by the prospect of a six-figure monetary bonus.

Under the finalized terms, each member of the 33-player squad will receive a sum of slightly under €200,000, contingent of course on their lifting of the championship on October 28th in Saint-Denis.

According to French outlet Midi Olympique, strategic negotiations conducted in Monaco and subsequently at Marcoussis between the French Rugby Federation (FFR) representatives and the players’ representatives arrived at a concrete consensus regarding the bonus structure for the forthcoming World Cup.

However, the agreed-upon bonuses, while significant, fall below the initial projections put forth by the previous administration. According to Midi former vice-president, Serge Simon, promised a package of roughly €10-11 million to be paid to the 33 players, which works out at the higher end at roughly €330,000 per player, presuming no extra players are called into camp.

Elsewhere England’s World Cup squad will be paid £100,000-a-man at the World Cup in France just to appear in the pool stages of the competition. This will increase incrementally the further they go in the tournament.

In 2019, the All Blacks would have received £119,000 ($150,000) each if they can defend their crown.

These amounts are vastly different to some of the tournament’s ‘minnows’; some of whom are lucky to get match fees at all from their unions. Many Tongan players, for example, had to expense their own travels to the 2019 event.

France are currently licking their wounds after a largely second-string side, who looked on course for a comfortable victory as they eased into a 21-3 half-time lead, fell to Scotland in Murrayfield on the weekend.

France are expected to field a side a lot closer to their first fifteen when the two sides meet again in Saint-Etienne this coming weekend.