The penultimate weekend of this year’s Six Nations gets underway in Rome on Saturday, with Ireland still topping the table in the hopes of winning a first title since 2018, and also retaining their Triple Crown in a crunch match with Scotland. With some of rugby‘s brightest talents on display so far, it is worth taking a closer look at the Six Nations highest paid players.
It is interesting to note that all five of the tournament’s highest paid players feature for the Home Nations, with Premiership Rugby dishing out, on average, the highest wages of any league.
Scotland and England are both tied with 10 points heading into this weekend’s fixtures, while Ireland sit pretty atop the leaderboard on 15, meaning all but one of the players listed below can add a sizeable £5 million in prize money (shared between the team) come the end of play in two week’s time.
Six Nations Highest Paid Players
5. Stuart Hogg (Scotland)
Exeter Chiefs fly-half and Scotland captain Stuart Hogg can be come only the fourth player to reach 100 caps for the Tartan Army, and will be just 15 appearances off the all-time record holder Donna Kennedy.
The 30-year-old made his debut over a decade ago in this exact competition, and has gone on to be named player of the tournament twice (2016 and 2017).
The Scots leading try-scorer also pockets a sizeable sum when lining up for club side Exeter Chiefs, who he helped claim a historic European and English double in his debut year in 2020 after leaving Glasgow Warriors. He reportedly earns around £580,000 per season.
=3. Owen Farrell (England)
On to England’s captain now, who will be dropped in favour of Marcus Smith at fly-half in their crucial clash with France at Twickenham on Saturday.
🗣️ "I feel this is the right blend against this opponent"
England head coach, Steve Borthwick explains his decision to drop captain Owen Farrell to the bench for their Six Nation match against France on Saturday. pic.twitter.com/sSOYvbFIzS
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) March 9, 2023
Nevertheless, the 31-year-old has been a stalwart for the Red and Whites for over a decade, scoring in excess of 1000 points and cementing his place among the England greats.
When he’s not representing his country he plys his trade at Saracens, where he signed a bumper new contract in 2020 worth £800,000 per-year, although that is expected to run out after this year’s World Cup.
Farrell made the headlines in 2020 after he deferred 90% of his wages in order to help keep the side afloat after the pandemic, where they were condemned to relegation for breaching their salary cap.
=3. Dan Bigger (Wales)
The only Welsh player to feature on this list, and one of only two not to play club rugby in England – more on that later.
The 33-year-old fly-half often cuts a divisive figure, and was recently named number three on Ruck’s biggest d***heads list. He has also been cut from Wales’ final 23 to face Italy in the weekend’s first game.
Rhys Webb starts for Wales for the first time since 2017 against Italy
❌ Dan Biggar and Alun Wyn Jones aren't even in the 23
Full team news ➡️ https://t.co/7KGuv4kETW pic.twitter.com/XfSQmgeOdN
— Rugby World (@Rugbyworldmag) March 9, 2023
However, the twice-picked British and Irish Lions made the switch to Toulon last year after four years with Northampton, and in doing so earned himself a contract believed to be worth £800,000-a-year.
2. Maro Itoje (England)
Another of Sarcens’ players who was forced to defer their wages three years ago was Maro Itoje, who is thought to earn in excess of £800,000 per-season.
The 28-year-old recently opened up about an underlying health issues that has affected his recent performances, but he has been a bedrock for England since making his debut in 2016, and his speed, power and agility for a lock forward has made him an ever-present feature in this year’s Six Nations.
1. Fin Russell (Scotland)
And so, we arrive at the highest paid player at this year’s Six Nations.
Scotland’s fly-half has been hailed as perhaps the best in the world in his position, and fans will be praying the heavily bandaged left leg seen in his most recent appearance for Racing 92 is nothing to be too concerned about.
4 – The top ranked player on our index is @Scotlandteam's Finn Russell, who has provided the most try assists of any player in this year’s Championship (4), as well as making the most carries of any player (45) and beating twice as many defenders as any other 10 (8). Maestro. pic.twitter.com/rsbUwH7DxF
— OptaJonny (@OptaJonny) March 9, 2023
A victory for Scotland would place them firmly in the race for a first ever Six Nations title, and Russell has been instrumental to their staggering campaign so far, beating both England and Wales, and will be eyeing a Home Nations clean sweep this weekend.
Although he currently plays for Racing 92 in France, Russell has agreed to join Bath Ruby for the 2023/24 season, and his latest contract is set to earn him between £950,000 and over £1 million a season.
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