England squad could pocket $14m for WC win

England's players stand to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars if they win the World Cup. Photo / Getty Images.

They were underwhelming against Fiji in the tournament opener but England's players stand to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars if they win the World Cup.

London's Daily Telegraph newspaper has revealed Chris Robshaw's squad will share a jackpot of almost £6 million (almost $NZ14m) if they lift the tournament trophy as ultimate victors.

It is by far the largest incentive ever offered to any team for winning the Webb Ellis Cup and is more than twice that paid to any other country including the All Blacks who are on individual bonuses of $150,000 to successfully defend their title.

The English squad will share match fees of £345,000 (almost $NZ800,000) with each member of the line-up that beat Fiji 35-11 this morning netting £15,000 ($NZ34,500) each.

The £15,000 ($NZ34,500) figure is split roughly into a £7,000 match fee ($NZ16,000), £7,000 ($NZ16,000) for image rights and a £1,000 ($NZ2,200) training fee - and that is just the beginning of the handsome payments and bonuses, which will mount up the further England advance in the tournament.

Fiji's squad can only look on in envy despite the Pacific Island nation's brave performance this morning. Overseas-based players had to pay their own flights to meet up in Fiji before World Rugby paid for their travel and accommodation during the tournament. They will only receive £500 ($NZ1,100) a week living expenses from their national union.

England's match fee does not include the bonus payments should they win the tournament for the first time since 2003.

The Telegraph revealed that the whole squad will share a bonus of £1,188,292 ($NZ2.76m) if they were to go out at the pool stage - an extra payment per player of £38,332 ($NZ88,000). If they were to exit in the quarter-finals, that would rise to £1,343,323 ($NZ3m) - £43,333 ($NZ100,000) per player.

Reaching the semi-finals would trigger a payment of £1,550,000 ($NZ3.57m) - £50,000 ($NZ115,000) per player.

Should they reach the final at Twickenham on Oct 31, and finish as runners-up, the squad would secure a shared fee of £1,808,323 ($NZ4.1m) - £58,333 ($NZ134,000) per player. Winning the World Cup would secure that fee plus a further win bonus of £1,653,323, (£53,333 per player) taking the total, without match fees, to £3,461,555 ($NZ8m).

Any player who participates in all seven World Cup games would receive a total of £105,000 ($NZ242,000) in match fees, taking their tournament total for winning the World Cup to £216,666 per player ($NZ497,000). The total payment - on the basis of 23 players earning seven match fees - would be £5,876,555 ($NZ13.5m).

The pay structure was agreed to ensure there was no repeat of the row in the build-up to the 2011 World Cup that led to some players threatening to boycott the official send-off dinner.

The 2011 squad were eventually paid a tournament fee of £1.25?million ($NZ2.9m) - just under £42,000 ($NZ97,000) per player for reaching the quarter-finals.

That would have risen by £100,000 ($NZ230,000) if they had won the World Cup, including a win bonus of £2.5 million ($NZ5.7m).

In contrast, the All Blacks have been offered $150,000 each if they successfully defend the Webb Ellis Cup. That's a 50 per cent increase on what they were paid for winning in 2011 but still pales into insignificance alongside what their English counterparts stand to earn.