Canada's players acknowledge the crowd after their loss to Italy during the Rugby World Cup Pool B match. Photo / AP
Canada's players acknowledge the crowd after their loss to Italy during the Rugby World Cup Pool B match. Photo / AP
Million-dollar players are up against a largely amateur and semi-pro team featuring a maker of vegan cheese and yoghurt, an aspiring sailor, and a PhD student.
That's the reality of Wednesday's All Black versus Canada match at Oita Stadium where the Rugby World Cup favourites face the second-lowest ranked teamtaking part in the tournament in Japan.
The All Blacks feature at least four players whose playing and off-field earnings are understood to top the $1 million mark: captain Kieran Read, two-time World Cup winner Sonny Bill Williams, wing Rieko Ioane and first-five/fullback Beauden Barrett.
DTH Van Der Merwe is Canada's best known and arguably highest paid player, via his contract with Scottish side Glasgow Warriors. Photo / New Zealand Herald
But those riches are a world away from the Canadian side, some of whom earn more doing their day jobs than they do for their on-field efforts.
Players in the Canadian team – who are coached by Kingsley Jones, the son of Kiwi rugby identity and Jonah Lomu's former manager Phil Kingsley Jones - who hold down fulltime jobs away from rugby include centre Nick Blevins who runs a vegan yoghurt and cheese company.
Veteran centre Nick Blevins runs a vegan yoghurt and cheese company in Alberta, Canada
Wing Jeff Hassler is back in the national team after a year away from top-flight footy so he could complete a sailing course in South Africa.
Loose forward Matt Heaton is a coach at a schoolboy rugby academy, as well as being an aspiring DJ.
Centre Ben LeSage has finished a Mechatronics Engineering degree and has his own consultancy company. Photo / Getty Images
Ben LeSage – a 24-year-old centre – has recently completed a Mechatronics Engineering degree and has his own consulting company. Utility back Patrick Parfrey is a PhD candidate in clinical epidemiology.
Quebec-born hooker Benoit Piffero plays for Blagnac in France's Federale 1 amateur league and Rugby Canada's media guide reveals he is a recruitment agency manager.
Just seven of the 31-strong Canadian team are fully professional. Kingsley Jones reveals the dream shared by his son and his players was to impress on the world stage in a way that attracted long-term financial backers.
Loose forward Matt Heaton is a schoolboy rugby academy coach and an aspiring DJ. Photo / Getty Images
"What he says is that these boys have to die for the jersey to show the Canadian people that there is room for them, to believe in them," he told the Herald on Sunday. "Once people start to believe in them then it might change for them.
"He tells me that the boys don't consider themselves to be professional, they consider themselves to be amateur.
"They are playing for their country and are hoping that one day when their sons and grandsons are playing and are professionals they can say, 'we started this'."
Canada coach Kingsley Jones is thinking long-term with the international rugby minnows. Photo / Getty Images
Of Canada's 31-man Rugby World Cup squad, 13 are signed with clubs in North America's Major League Rugby competition – which has a total team salary cap of $537,000 - four play for other semi-pro or amateur teams in their home country, and Rugby Canada's media guide reveals seven players are "unattached" to any teams.
The Major League Rugby salary cap covers squads that exceed 30 players, so several players will be paid less than the $34,000 that Barrett would have earned for the 12 Instagram posts he has made since mid-May in which he has tagged in sponsors and other corporates.
A study released on the eve of the Cup analysing data from Influencer Marketing Hub revealed the star back was paid $2900 for every sponsored Instagram post.
Canadian wing DTH van der Merwe – now a veteran of three Rugby World Cups – is the side's most dangerous and probably highest earning player.
The South Africa-born wing's contract with Scottish club Glasgow Warriors is understood to be worth at least $700,000.
Canada captain and loose forward Tyler Ardron also plays for the Chiefs in the Super Rugby competition. Photo / Getty Images
Canada is captained by Chiefs lock Tyler Ardron, whose Super Rugby contract would be worth a minimum of $75,000.
Other players with Kiwi links include loosehead prop Hubert Buydens – one of the seven players listed as "unattached" – who has previously played for Manawatu, and lock Evan Olmstead who last year played for Auckland.
Canada go into the match ranked No. 22 in the world. The only team at the World Cup ranked lower than them on World Rugby's list is Namibia, at No 23.
Kingsley Jones said the fact Canada had so many semi-pro and amateur players, and the country's size, were his son's biggest logistical challenges.
Hooker Benoit Piffero plays amateur rugby in France and also is a recruitment agency manager in France. Photo / Getty Images
He believed the only way the team could improve was for Canada to increase its depth of fulltime professionals to at least 50 players.
"The All Blacks are paid, so they come [into camp] whenever you call," Kingsley Jones said.
"But these boys can't. When he picks a time he has to make sure that everybody gets time off work and can be there.
"His team consistently changes because not everyone is available all of the time. You could play against America one week and lose by 10 points, and then play them a couple of weeks later with another team and lose by 40 points."
Jeff Hasler is back in the Canada rugby team after completing a sailing course in South Africa. Photo / Getty Images
Kingsley Jones said although the Canadian team had no chance of an upset against the All Blacks, his son's side was determined not to waste a golden opportunity to put some pressure on the world's best team.
Any loss smaller than Tonga's 85-point defeat to the All Blacks would "be a good result".
"The All Blacks are there to have a bloody good go at," he added.
Phil Kingsley Jones' son, Kingsley Jones, is coaching Canada at the Rugby World Cup. New Zealand Herald photograph / Dean Purcell
"Kingsley wants to show the rest of us that they have something that deserves to be developed.
"His wish as a very little boy before I got involved here in New Zealand was to play against the All Blacks ... that is all he ever wanted to do. He never played against them but now he is coaching against them and that is a great honour."
