Rugby poised to slash its player wage bill by 83 per cent

Australia's Super Rugby and sevens players are poised to agree to a mammoth 60 per cent pay cut across the board for a six-month period, allowing Rugby Australia to slash its wage bill by more than 80 per cent between April and September after the JobKeeper payment is factored in.

The agreement, the finer details of which were being thrashed out on Sunday afternoon, brings to an end almost four weeks of often acrimonious negotiations between Rugby Australia and the Rugby Union Players Association.

Michael Hooper (pictured) Kurtley Beale, Matt Toomua and Dane Haylett-Petty will sacrifice more than $1m between them over six months.Credit: Getty Images

Major questions still hang over the future of the men's and women's sevens programs and the solvency of RA, with no broadcast deal in place yet for 2021.

But finalising the deal will allow RA to apply to World Rugby for access to its $160 million relief fund, potentially drawing on $16m in cash advances and low-interest loans in as little as a week's time.

The final pay deal proposal, a summary of which was obtained by the Herald, outlined how big a role the JobKeeper scheme, worth $3250 per month to eligible workers, would play.

With a 60 per cent cut all but agreed on a total wages bill of about $15m over the six-month period, JobKeeper will cover almost 57 per cent of the outstanding $6m, leaving RA and the Super Rugby teams to cover just $2.6m, representing a saving of 83 per cent.

The scheme will cover the entire post-cut salaries of eligible athletes on $95,000 or less per year, with Rugby Australia or a player's Super Rugby club to pay the full 40 per cent of anyone not eligible for the scheme.

For players on annual salaries higher than $95,000, RA or the relevant club will make up the gap between the Job Keeper payment and the total 40 per cent figure.

For example, a player on $200,000 per year would go down to $80,000, with JobKeeper covering $39,000 and the Waratahs $41,000. Over the six-month period, that would see the Waratahs pay out $3416 per month.

The deal has also been stratified so that players earning $100,000 or higher sacrifice more on a scale topping out at 67 per cent, and players on entry-level contracts will suffer a cut of about 20 per cent, down to the Job Keeper payment.

Australia's four top earners - Michael Hooper, Kurtley Beale, Matt Toomua and Dane Haylett-Petty - will sacrifice more than $1m between them over the six months.

As the Herald revealed on Friday, those players will be eligible for a Super Rugby 'sabbatical', or a six-month deal overseas, between 2021 and 2023. Any other player who stands to lose more than $200,000 over the period and satisfy a years of service threshold, will also qualify for the provision. Brumbies back Tevita Kuridrani and Queensland second rower Izack Rodda are believed to fall into this group, although it is not known whether or not they want to take up the option.

RA will allow players to negotiate flexible training arrangements with players who need or want to take on jobs outside their teams to support their families.

It is a nervous period for Australia's Olympic champion women's sevens squad and their counterparts in the men's program.

They return to 'work' next week after three weeks of enforced annual leave and almost all of them come off contract in August.

With the Tokyo Olympics pencilled in for next year, there does not appear to be an immediate threat to their ongoing employment, but several sources close to negotiations told the Herald that RA wants to review the game's status as a fulltime centralised program.

The deal will see RA commit to providing RUPA with monthly financial updates and any imminent return to play will trigger an immediate return to the negotiating table.