Brad Shield has shared his perspective on the impact of Wasps’ decline on himself and his teammates, along with disclosing the unlikelihood of receiving a substantial amount of money.
The former England flanker, currently playing for Perpignan in France and set to return to the Hurricanes next season, expressed gratitude for having invested his money in business ventures, which alleviated some of the stress.
The versatile forward also revealed that Wasps still owe him a significant sum in unpaid image rights.
“I don’t want to go into specifics but it’s not shy of six figures,” said Shields.
“That is a damning position to be in after you feel you’ve put so much into a club. I know for a fact that Chris, Robert Dawbarn and the two Wasps Legends did everything they possibly could to keep Wasps alive and spoke about the moral obligation to rugby creditors as part of that. It’s just sad that it’s come to a screeching halt.
“What distracts you as a rugby player is playing rugby. I’ve been lucky enough to have something. If I hadn’t, the stress would have been ten-fold.
“Hindsight is obviously a b…. but I put money into my own business,” Shields said.
“Would I have done that if this money wasn’t coming through? Moving out to France has been stressful in itself and obviously isn’t cheap. As a family, we’ve now got to take a breath and decide whether we want to move on or keep tormenting ourselves over it.”
RANKED: The salary caps of each rugby nation revealed
Sale Sharks boss Alex Sanderson believes the reduction in the Premiership salary cap is making it tougher for English teams to compete with French sides in Europe.
"You don't have the money to sign the quality needed," said Sanderson following his sides 41-22 loss against Racing 92.
"There's been a difference in the salary cap forever between the French and English clubs. Toulon used to have a £20m salary cap and the English clubs were on £5-6m - and yet they managed to win.
"You can make up the gap in the salary cap through really good coaching, decent infrastructure, and culture as well. You can bridge the gap through talent, through cohesion and decent coaching."
So how do the different salary caps across the world compare? Take a look below.
SALARY CAPS RANKED:
7. Major League Rugby (USA) = £407,295 ($500,000)
6. Super Rugby salary cap (New Zealand & Australia) = £3.2 million
The overall Super Rugby salary cap has been adjusted to a total of Aus$5.5million (US$4.3 million), with the average player receiving Aus £125,000 in 2018. Reports said this was a rise of about 10 percent.
5. United Rugby Championship (Scotland) = £4.2 million (estimated)
Although there is no official salary cap in Scotland, Glasgow Warriors are estimated to spend £4.2 million on players while Edinburgh spends £3.8 million.