Rugby: What price an All Black?

Former All Black Carl Hayman cashing in while playing in France, reportedly earning $1.13 million a year. Photo / Brett Phibbs

The recession still hovers throughout Europe but the biggest rugby clubs have largely escaped its clutches.

They can still muster extraordinary contracts for the best players and any All Black thinking of leaving after the World Cup can be confident it will be for life-changing money.

The English Premiership generated more than £100 million ($208 million) last year, while the Top 14 in France is now a bigger competition, by every measure, than its professional football counterpart.

Certainly in France, where the clubs are mainly owned as vanity purchases for the seriously rich, it appears to be a matter of pride to be able to lay claim to the highest paid player.

In the last few years the money has escalated - not across the board, but for the big names, the A-listers of the world game. The New Zealand Rugby Union has long cursed the French, arguing that sanity never prevails; that pride and ego has driven a handful of contracts to the point they make no sense.

"The business models in England and France are making life pretty difficult for us,'' lamented NZRU chief executive Steve Tew in 2008. "A place our size will always struggle to match their figures and, as the current climate in this country is tough for anyone trying to sell anything, we're going through a particularly testing time.''

However testing it was back then, it will pale in comparison when the heavyweight clubs come looking for off contract All Blacks early next year. Knowing that the market will be frantic, the New Zealand Rugby Union is encouraging those off contract to sort out their post World Cup futures long before September next year.

It's probable that most of them will - the European clubs are likely to make the decision that little bit easier by offering the sort of money that is hard to turn down.

Those involved in the player market say there has been a shift in the last couple of years; that clubs are now more selective about who they buy.

Seeking value for money, finding a reliable, experienced player who will dig in and guts it out has lost much of its appeal. A superstar culture has developed - sign the biggest name and then leave the rest to the marketing department.

To chase the likes of Dan Carter, Ma'a Nonu and Richie McCaw hints of ambition and serious intention. Fans love that; love thinking their club is of interest to the best players in the world.

Which is why the salaries offered to recognised superstars, men such as Dan Carter, Richie McCaw and Ma'a Nonu, are higher than they have ever been.

Those on the A-List can set themselves up for life. According to French newspaper Midi Olympique the highest earning player in world rugby is Sebastien Chabal on an estimated package of $1.8 million a season at Racing Metro.

The Parisian club shifted their pay scales in 2009 when they earned promotion to the Top 14 and decided they needed to immediately bolster their squad.

When Carl Hayman came off contract with Newcastle earlier this year, it was evident again that for the right player, for someone who could really make a difference, the money on offer is astronomical.

Hayman eventually signed for Toulon for a reported deal worth €620,000 ($1.13 million) a season. Recognising as the best tight-head in the world, Toulon raised the benchmark because they felt Hayman would give them the physicality and dominance they would need at scrum time.

Bayonne made a desperate bid for Matt Giteau at the end of 2008, offering him a four-year deal worth an estimated $9.6 million (or $2.4 million a season) although that was not taken up. Jonny Wilkinson at Toulon is another on the A list earning an estimated €408,000 a year after tax ($743,000).

The ability of French clubs to offer these sums has remained undiminished throughout the worst of the recession. Most are bankrolled by sugar daddies with the sort of wealth that took a hammering during the collapse of world markets but still left them with millions in the bank.

Without a salary cap, the French are unrestricted in what they can pay. With an increasing number of English-speaking players flooding into the Top 14, the risks of New Zealanders failing to settle have reduced.

French rugby is increasingly Anglicised and, with a number of clubs such as Perpignan, Biarritz and Montpellier offering beach lifestyles, the Top 14 is now the preferred choice of many New Zealand players considering an offshore move.

Clearly, Carter, as a once in a generation player, has forced the scales to be reconsidered again. The €1.2 million ($2.2 million) a season he is believed to have been offered is the kind of money never seen before and the kind no one else can command.

Ma'a Nonu, should he want to play in Europe, could join the A list but in the same sort of range as Wilkinson.

While the French clubs have deep pockets, they are not limitless and the steep rise in top-end salaries has forced a correction down the scale. The days of a Super 14 regular being able to get rich quick are gone. The salaries being offered to those not considered top class have stayed steady and clubs are more discerning about their purchases in that category.

Some clubs have learned the hard way that not every New Zealander is worth a premium. The likes of Ben Castle and Jerry Collins at Toulon, Chris Jack at Saracens and Lome Fa'atau at Glasgow provided a reminder that recruitment teams need to do their homework.

The English and Celtic Leagues have always been more thorough, mainly because the English clubs have a salary cap to stick to and the Celts, with the exception of Munster and Leinster, don't have the same budgets.

That's not to say they can't raise the funds to put together compelling packages. Hayman was allegedly earning €330,000 at Newcastle ($686,000) before he left this year. Nick Evans is thought to be on similar money at Harlequins while Luke McAlister was reportedly being paid €300,000 by Sale.

Free from the auspices of the Rugby Football Union, the Premiership Clubs feel no moral obligation to reduce the number of foreign players in their teams.

In fact, if anything, there is a distinct advantage to recruiting All Blacks, as they are available all year ,unlike internationals from the home unions, who miss anything from nine to 12 weeks of the season due to test commitments.