SECOND-ROW
Lock: Eben Etzebeth (Toulon) – £1m
Lock: Maro Itoje (Saracens) – £800,000
According to RugbyPass his salary is somewhere in the region of £750,000 to £1 million – making him England’s highest paid player.
BACK-ROW
Blindside-flanker: Steve Luatua (Bristol Bears) – £650,000
Didn’t make any friends within the All Blacks hierarchy when he decided to cash in on his extreme rugby talent, signing for Bristol. Has since signed a contract extension.
Openside-flanker: Michael Hooper (Toyota Verblitz) – £750,000
The Wallabies captain accepted a shock move to Japan to play with Toyota Verblitz, which saw the back-rower increase his salary from around £500k to £750k..
Number 8: Sergio Parisse (Toulon) – £500,000
The veteran continues to be the highest -paid number 8 after signing another one-year extension with Toulon.
HEAD COACH
Pat Lam (Bristol Bears) – £800,000
The former Newcastle, Northampton and Samoa back-row will remain at Ashton Gate until at least 2023 after signing a bumper contract extension in 2019. The 50-year-old, as a result, became the highest paid rugby boss in the world.
