Secret bonuses if Wallabies win World Cup revealed

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Saint-Etienne: Rugby Australia has agreed to award lucrative bonuses to the Wallabies if they perform well at the Rugby World Cup, with players set to pocket an extra $175,000 each if Australia can lift the trophy.

Before the Wallabies departed for France last month, RA and the Rugby Union Players’ Association came to an agreement on what bonuses players should receive on top of regular match payments. In addition to the windfall on offer for breaking a 24-year World Cup drought, the players will also be rewarded for progressing past the quarter-finals. It is only the second time such a last four bonus has been offered.

RA and RUPA wanted details of bonus payments kept confidential, but this masthead can reveal what players are set to earn if they go deep in the tournament.

According to informed sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, every member of the 33-man playing squad will take home an extra $175,000 if Australia win the World Cup final on October 28 in Paris.

Considering the team’s performances of late – the Wallabies have just won six of their past 23 Tests – a World Cup victory would appear unlikely but with Eddie Jones at the helm as coach, anything is possible.

It is a 40-per-cent increase on the $125,000 that was offered in 2019 if the Wallabies won the tournament. That year, Australia were bundled out by England in a quarter-final in Japan.

Marika Koroibete gets his selfie game going.Credit: Getty

In 2015, the Australian Rugby Union (now RA) offered players an all-or-nothing $100,000 reward for winning the final, but the team fell just short to New Zealand after making the decider at Twickenham.

Meanwhile, there is also another incentive – not seen for 16 years – that RA and RUPA have agreed on, may be more attainable given the Wallabies are paying $15 with the bookies to win the World Cup.

If the Wallabies were to make a semi-final, players would pocket $25,000 each. The last time there was an incentive to qualify for a semi-final was in 2007, but it has never been this lucrative.

However, as part of this agreement, it is understood there would be no extra cash given out if the Wallabies won a semi-final and progressed to the final at Stade de France.

But should the Wallabies replicate the feats of John Eales’ successful side in 1999, they would claim an extra $150,000 on top for an overall bounty of $175,000.

RA chief executive Phil Waugh declined to elaborate last week when asked about what players stood to earn if they did well at the World Cup.

“We have been working with the players’ association for some time and it’s pretty consistent with what we’ve done historically at World Cups,” Waugh said.

“The deeper you go, the better the prizemoney is but it’s actually what impact that has on rugby back home that is most important rather than the financial side.

Glory days: John Eales, then the Wallabies captain, raises the William Webb Ellis Trophy after winning the 1999 World Cup.Credit: Tim Clayton

“You can drive more participation, more interest and commercial benefit. It’s certainly not from the one or two games you go deep in.

“We have a good relationship with RUPA and the players.”

RA and RUPA declined to comment.

In 2015, the ARU placed a bet worth up to $300,000 on the Wallabies winning the World Cup, to cover up to $3.1 million in tournament win bonuses.

In 2011, the offer for making a final was $25,000, with an extra $85,000 guaranteed for winning the World Cup. Australia finished third.

Four years earlier in 2007, the Wallabies were offered a $10,000 bonus if they reached the semi-finals and another $42,250 if they made the last two.

The team could have pocketed $137,000 if they went all the way but lost to England in a quarter-final in Marseille, where they will again play a potential last-eight clash this year.

The Wallabies beat Georgia 35-15 in their first match of the World Cup last weekend and face Fiji on Sunday (1.45am Monday AEST).

Australia also have Wales and Portugal in their pool and are likely to face either Argentina or England in a quarter-final if things go well.

Watch all the action from Rugby World Cup 2023 on the Home of Rugby, Stan Sport. Every match streaming ad-free, live and in 4K UHD with replays, mini matches and highlights available on demand.

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