Big pay rises for wannabe All Blacks; NZ Herald

New Zealand's previously undervalued mid-tier group of players who sit below the All Blacks have felt the love in the collective employment deal that has been signed and have been rewarded with major pay rises plus bonus and incentive scheme payments.

As a result of the 100 per cent increase in broadcast revenue and the impending cash windfall that will come with next year's British Lions tour, New Zealand's professional players have seen their overall cash pool for payments rise from $121 million to $191 million over the next three years.

New Zealand's players have one of the more innovative payment schemes in world rugby, with the New Zealand Rugby Players' Association entitled to 36.5 per cent of New Zealand Rugby's revenue.

That pool of money is used to pay All Blacks and Super Rugby, sevens, Mitre 10 and other development players. The main changes to the new deal that will run to 2018 are:

• Long serving Super Rugby players can earn a $35,000 bonus - on top of their normal payment- if they commit to playing in the Mitre 10 Cup
• Maximum Super Rugby retainer contracts have increased from $190,000 to $195,000
• Minimum Super Rugby contracts have increased from $70,000 to $75,000
• Savings schemes have been opened where players can contribute over their careers and take a split windfall at ages 34 and 40
• Minimum payments for women have increased to a higher level than minimum payments for men

While all contracted players will benefit from the increased payment pool, it is players who have been in New Zealand for four to six years that the new deal is designed to most benefit.

NZR has been outstanding at retaining senior All Blacks and emerging young talent, but has struggled to keep those players such as Jared Payne, Nasi Manu and Andrew Horrell who come close to national selection and then shift offshore to give their senior years to foreign clubs.

NZRPA boss Rob Nichol hopes that the new payment model will see more players stay in New Zealand as the money on offer will in some cases be comparable to what they are being offered offshore.

 Kiwis taking steps to keep good players home We have lost some good ones in the past, e.g. Charles Pitau & will no doubt lose a few more in the future but this will help. Many kiwi players want to stay in NZ anyway but a pay raise will help.
Could SA do something similar?

 Great news JW hopefully the scabby thieving basturds from the NH will keep their nasty grasping paws to themselves .Very tiresome seeing them steal players developed and bought into ABs contention at great impost to the NZRFU ,some of them even suddenly morphing into Irish ,English Scots and Welshmen .If the gits want them then they can pay through the nose for 'em !

Good news indeed Wardad.  I hope we can keep the likes of Dagg, B. Smith & Cruden also these are really top tier players and they contracts are up for renewal.

 Can any of our SA friends on here enlighten us as to why the Duplessis brothers ,Visage ,Broussow and Frans Steyn arent being selected ? I would have thought that with the wee Beast the Duplessis boys would still be a formidable front row and Broussow is still a fetcher par excellence'

I doubt you would get an argument from Mozart Wardad but a few other blokes on here might throw a fit

 Too true Brother JW ,every ones a critic eh ? ABs selections is a wee bit easier what with just selecting Barrett ,Savea or Ione brothers hehehe.....

New Zealand Super Rugby is going to get stronger. 
Meanwhile, we are stuck with some indabas while more of our younger players are leaving to go overseas.

I heard a SA journalist onna radio say that some of the SA players overseas are now earning seven times what they earned back home ......... that ratio will obviously increase .

 good news, no doubt,... but the risk of losing some important players still there,...

this is from http://www.nzherald.co.nz/rugby/news/article.cfm?c_id=80&objectid=11767010

"All Blacks coach Steve Hansen now finds himself reluctantly playing a human version of spoof where he can't be sure if he's going to end up with zero, one, two or three key All Blacks in his hand later this year.

He's hoping for three. Ideally, he wants Israel Dagg, Ben Smith and Aaron Cruden to all commit to playing at the 2019 World Cup. All three are off contract next year, all three have offers to leave but none has yet made up their minds.

Probably most at risk of moving on is Cruden. His future took a radical turn this year when Beauden Barrett blossomed. Barrett went from cameo king to king and as he's nearly three years Cruden's junior, the throne isn't likely to be vacated any time soon.

Cruden has played the role of dutiful understudy for long enough and while he may love New Zealand and feel massively flattered that the All Blacks want him to stay, the reality of being a test match bench player for another two seasons may not necessarily be enough enticement to keep him here. Against that, he reportedly has an offer of around $1.3m a season to play for Montpellier under former Bay of Plenty coach Vern Cotter.

Dagg began this season with a desire to force his way back into the All Blacks after being dropped from the World Cup squad in 2015. If he could do that, then it would allow him the option of leaving New Zealand on his terms - with his reputation restored. He wouldn't be the guy who was dropped by the All Blacks and then jumped ship.

If he'd been asked in March where he thought his future lay, he'd have probably said offshore. But now he can't be so sure because he played well enough to create a potential new future for himself in New Zealand. He's a starting player for the All Blacks again and if he can retain his form, that won't change. New men are challenging but they don't offer the all round portfolio of Dagg. He faces a genuinely tough call on what to do. He's probably 50:50 on whether to stay or whether to head to Ireland or France.

The odds on Smith staying are maybe better - but not by much. He came close to leaving in 2013 but instead signed for four years. He wanted to prove himself - shift from being a peripheral All Black to first pick. He's done that and at 30, he'll have to decide if he's driven by the challenge of continuing to prove himself in the test arena or whether he wants to be paid out for already having proven himself.

So it could be zero, it could be one, it could be two and while it is a long shot, it could be three players Hansen is still holding later next year. For now, this will feel like a game of spoof that is way more fun for everyone else than it is him."

- NZ Herald

 also about this issue:

Kieran Read: The $1m man?

"While retired All Blacks greats Richie McCaw and Dan Carter are understood to have earned more than $1m previously, they did so with endorsements and sponsorship packages included. Read will reach $1m before those add-ons are considered..."

  Players are going to get a pay increase. It is unavoidable as more and more resources are being channelled to professional rugby.

The race is launched and it is going to be hard for the SH. The SH would favour more international squad fixtures while the NH would prefer less to leave room for the clubs. One cause why allowing NH international squads to be reinforced with foreign talent works in favour of the SH, NH clubs want less of international squad stuff and the less interesting it is, the better for them.

Salaries are another story as it is now known that underhanded deals are common in the NH, english clubs for example preferred to bury the topic rather than facing judicial battles.

One rule of the thumb though: usually, as a result of the deals, players are paid more than declared.
And players speak among themselves.

 NH clubs the bane of good rugby .