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South Africa's BIG salary cap handicap

By Online Editors
Wednesday 11 May 2022

SPOTLIGHT: Sale Sharks Director of Rugby Alex Sanderson opened the proverbial ‘can of worms’ when he suggested that the Premiership salary cap is a major handicap for English clubs in Europe.

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Sanderson, speaking after his team’s 22-41 loss to Racing 92 in a European Cup quarterfinal, said the salary cap makes it difficult for English clubs to compete with star-studded French sides in Europe.

The Sharks’ loss ended English representation in the Champions Cup.

The Premiership salary cap is now £5 million – which is significantly less than the spending of some of the English clubs’ European rivals.

* To read Sanderson’s views, CLICK HERE!

It is a problem South African teams have been wrestling with for some time and an issue that will be highlighted once they enter the European top flight next year – the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup competitions.

Currently, the SA salary cap is just ZAR60-million (£3-million).

It is lower than all the countries they will be competing against in Europe next year.

In fact, even the salary caps for New Zealand and Australia (in Super Rugby) are higher.

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Below, with the assistance of the UK-based website Ruck, we list the salary caps from lowest to highest.

(We list them in Pound Sterling and SA Rand)

7. URC (South Africa) = £3-million (ZAR60-million)
6. Super Rugby (New Zealand & Australia) = £3.2-million (ZAR64-million)
5. URC (Scotland) = £4.2-million (ZAR83-million)
4. URC (Wales) = £5-million (ZAR99-million)
3. Premiership (England) = £5-million (ZAR99-million)
2. URC (Ireland) = £6.6-million (ZAR131-million)
1. Top 14 (France) = £10-million (ZAR199-million)

@rugby365com, with additional reporting from ruck.co.uk

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