NZRU to foot three million dollar player bill

The New Zealand Rugby Union will today be burdened with a stonking $1.6 million wage bill. That will be the cost of selecting 91 players to represent the All Blacks, Junior All Blacks and Maori, making today the most expensive team announcement in rugby history.

Under the terms of the new player collective that kicked in at the start of this year, the NZRU has agreed to pay a weekly assembly fee of $7500 to every All Black. The Junior All Blacks will receive an assembly fee of $3500 and the Maori will each be paid $2000 for every week they're together.

The All Blacks will be split into two squads, with the 24 players available to play two tests against the Irish on June 10 and June 17 assembling tomorrow for promotional work that will see them shoot commercials, meet sponsors and be issued with kit.

The three weeks they spend together will cost the NZRU $22,500 a man for a total of $540,000.

A separate 15 consisting of Hurricanes and Crusaders players will not play against Ireland but will assemble for conditioning work and then fly to Argentina on June 15, where they will later be joined by 11 of the squad who played Ireland.

It will cost the NZRU $532,500 to pay the wages of those required for the Argentinian test.

A 26-man Junior All Black squad to play in the inaugural Pacific Five Nations will also be named and immediately assemble for their first game against Fiji this Saturday. Each player will receive $3500 per week and with games on June 3, June 9, June 17 and June 24, the total bill for keeping the squad in camp for almost one month will be $312,000.

Every man in the 26-man Maori squad to play in the Churchill Cup in North America between June 3 and June 17 will collect $2000 per week, costing the NZRU about $156,000.

The spend on wages for all three teams next month will be about $1.6 million. The auxiliary costs such as accommodation, food and travel will see the total bill soar to about $3 million.

These payments to the players come on top of the money they receive to play Super 14 and Air New Zealand Cup rugby.

With 13 tests this year, the All Blacks are likely to be assembled for 16 weeks in total, meaning some players will pick up a total of $120,000 for their international commitments.

With most All Blacks likely to be commanding about $180,000 for their Super 14 work and as much as $100,000 from their provincial unions, a significant number in Henry's squad will take home $400,000 this year.

Rob Nicol, who heads the Professional Players Association, said he expects $27 million will be paid to players this year - an increase from about $22 million in 2004.

"I still don't think people quite realise the power of the pound and the buying strength of overseas clubs," said Nicol. "But there is no doubt we are closing the gap in straight financial terms."

The NZRU announced at its AGM that $8.6 million would be set aside to meet increased player payments. NZRU deputy chief executive Steve Tew said the new remuneration scales and player collective have created a more positive environment.

"The player collective is a ground-breaking employment relationship," he said.

"This is all part of a long-term strategic initiative to have more elite players involved so we can potentially develop more All Blacks."

Both Tew and Nicol agree the decision to pay a flat assembly fee rather than a match fee has been crucial in building team harmony.

The flat fee means all players in the squad know they are being paid the same and it also means rotation does not carry a financial penalty.