Umaga's deal the best ever

Tana Umaga

Tana Umaga's French club contract is likely the best rugby deal ever on a per game basis.

Umaga has yet to put final pen to paper but formalities should be completed within weeks.

All the indications are that the former All Black captain's impending contract with second division club Toulon will earn him $1.45m after tax for up to 10 games over two months, a tidy $140,000 or so per match.

Umaga is expected to get a clearance early next month from the New Zealand Rugby Union, allowing him to join the nearly 100-year-old club on the southern French coast after the NPC.

The deal wouldn't be a table topper in the ludicrous money world of the English football premiership, where stars earn £100,000 ($300,000) a week on lengthy contracts. But in rugby-land, it's a not-so-small fortune when you consider superstars such as Jonny Wilkinson and Brian O'Driscoll might earn around $30,000 a match for their clubs. Publicity-magnet Jonah Lomu scored $12,000 a game in his comeback bid with Cardiff.

The 33-year-old Umaga tops the lot, and will not be short on fringe benefits either as he will hardly be taxed playing-wise in the French second division. This will mean the Hurricanes should still get strong bursts out of the legendary centre in his final season in 2007, although the time is ripe for Colin Cooper to fully promote Ma'a Nonu, Conrad Smith and Tane Tu'ipulotu.

The remarkable Toulon deal has come about through a mixture of circumstances that have played right into Umaga's wallet.

Umaga earned around $750,000 a year as All Black captain. It is believed that since 2002, Umaga has turned down -

* An English club offer involving a $1m sign-on fee plus $2m over two years.

* A French offer of a $1m sign-on plus $2m over three years.

* A Japanese contract paying $1.5m a year over four years.

Umaga was committed to the All Blacks when those offers came in, and still does not want to reside overseas long-term, though his international career is over.

The extravagant short-term offer has allowed Umaga to cash in and take a break with his family by briefly donning the red-and-black of Toulon.

Toulon, by any stretch of the imagination, are paying well over the odds.

The money is coming directly from their two new investors and "co-presidents" Mourad Boudjellal and Stephane Lelievre. The pair took over the club in May.

"I am paying for Umaga myself ... I feel I have a mission for my town and I offer Umaga to Toulon," Boudjellal has said.

Toulon returned to the French first division for the just completed season but under the management of their former great loose forward Eric Champ, things did not go well.

They won just three of 26 first division games and finished a distant last, so quickly returned to the lower grade for the upcoming season.

It is difficult to see how the splurging of such a large amount of money on the short-term capture of one player could reap long-term benefits.

But the Umaga deal will make operations such as Perth's Western Force and various Japanese clubs feel better about the huge amounts they have forked out for players like Matt Giteau and Troy Flavell.

Giteau will earn a staggering $1.8m a season on a three-year contract with John Mitchell's Western Force.

Insiders have told the Herald that Giteau's contract includes heavy promotional commitments worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Former Wallaby great Toutai Kefu is believed to have scored the biggest Japanese club contract, of $650,000 a year. Flavell scored close to that, his price pushed dramatically up after new All Black coach Graham Henry's late bid to keep him in New Zealand two years ago.

In England, former All Black Carlos Spencer is understood to earn a pre-tax figure of £280,000 ($838,000) a season with Northampton, putting him near the top of the tree. His earnings are eclipsed by Brian O'Driscoll.

Jonny Wilkinson - who was earning £250,000 ($748,000) a season at Newcastle before the 2003 World Cup - may have got an upgraded deal. Wilkinson's England pay in the World Cup year was £110,000 ($330,000).

But in Wilkinson's case, his rugby earnings are dwarfed by endorsements estimated at £5 million a season since the World Cup triumph.

By our standards, Umaga is king.