It is a study which debunks a myth, that of the indestructible right pillar as the highest paid position in the championship. This Monday, December 23, the Midi Olympique reported the observations of a study carried out on the salaries of Top 14 carried out by the audit firm Nexia S & A. The role of right pillar leaves the podium and gives way to another type colossus at the top of the salary pyramid.
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Numbers 5, diamonds of the Top 14
From now on, Number 5s are the highest paid players in the championship. The latter are those with the highest average salaries, with fly-halves remaining in demand. However, the average amounts of income for this position were not specified by the Olympic Midday.
This surge in salaries for a position often occupied by the famous ©JoueursDeLombre remains logical in view of the recent demands of the Top 14. Indeed, the French championship has gotten into the habit of coveting particularly massive players to occupy the right axis of the second line.
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High salaries, small pool
The 5 star numbers in Top 14 are sometimes even shunned in their countries of originlike the past adventures of players like Paul Willemse, Emmanuel Meafou or Will Skelton. “I didn't have an offer in Australia.[…] It’s (France) that gives me the chance to live the dream of being a professional rugby player”, entrusted for example the number 5 of Stade Toulousain and the XV of France to RMC Sport in 2023.
Where several countries have bet on more athletic players, like Maro Itoje or Eben Etzebeth, French rugby counts on these men like real wrecking balls, regularly exceeding 135 kg. In front of the right pillars, the number 5s have become the heaviest players in the Top 14.
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This French dynamic has made it possible to attract players with rare and colossal sizes to its championship. But even if these rugby players are sometimes shunned in other countries, they remain exceptions. Being able to carry out physical efforts with such a physique without suffering a series of injuries is nothing usual or frequent.
Furthermore, French rugby is also struggling to train players with this profile from its rugby schools, explaining the weak pool. Speaking of the positions of left prop, hooker, winger and flanker, a player agent confided this to Midol: “These are positions where the training centers produce a lot of good, even very good players, unlike number 5s, strong players or openers-scorers. What is rare is still expensive.”
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