09 April 2020

Wales' leading rugby players take a 25% pay cut

Wales' leading rugby players have agreed to take a 25 per cent pay cut to help stem financial losses in the sport.

The country's regional players will also take a cut with the exception of players who earn less than £25,000 a year.

The Professional Rugby Board  (PRB), which is a union for regional sides Cardiff Blues, Dragons, Scarlets and Ospreys, reached the agreement with the Welsh Rugby Union.

The agreed cut will be affective from April 1 and will last three months.

And it is not just the players who are being hit financially. Last week it was announced Wales head coach Wayne Pivac and WRU chief executive Martyn Phillips would also take a 25 per cent cut.

As well as player cuts the PRB said: "Each of the regions have also applied percentage reductions across all full-time staff, which is being managed locally to reflect the various business models across the professional game."

The WRU pay 80 percent of the top 38 ranked players in the country with the regions paying the rest of the players.

The PRB's chair, Amanda Blanc, said: "Clearly, with no sport taking place, income across the whole of Welsh rugby has dropped significantly and it is not clear when this might change.

"Not to act now would be negligent, given our shared goal is for Welsh rugby to remain intact when we emerge from this period. 

"To do that we must reduce costs and preserve cash so that we can continue to operate. Having made operational savings across the businesses, this is the next unavoidable step."

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