ICYMI: The highest-paid Springbok has been revealed
Find out who the highest-paid Springbok in the Rugby World Cup-winning squad is and how much they make per season.
While the top rugby players in the world don’t earn nearly as much as other sporting codes it is clear that the top Springboks certainly make quite a bit.
THE HIGHEST-PAID SPRINGBOKS
We take a look at the players who earn the most now and reveal the highest-paid Springbok.
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4 EBEN ETZEBETH
The exact salary the Sharks pay Eben Etzebeth has not been nailed down but it is understood to have been a slightly lower figure than he was earning in France.
The capture of Etzebeth was a massive one for the Sharks and he is the biggest star on their books by far. He is said to earn between R14 and R17 million per year.
His earnings in Durban will be augmented by his central contract with SA Rugby and a complicated compensation package from the Sharks.
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3 FAF DE KLERK
In 2022, Faf de Klerk made a move to the Yokohama Canon Eagles in Japan which bolstered his annual earnings said to be around the R21 million mark including outside deals.
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De Klerk had spent five seasons with the Sale Sharks in the English Premiership.
He pairs up with Japanese international flyhalf Yu Tamura at club level but some have questioned the decision to play in the Top League.
SPRINGBOKS TOP EARNERS
2 HANDRE POLLARD
At one time his deal with the Leicester Tigers made him the highest-paid rugby player in the world.
The latest figures suggest that Pollard now earns around 14.2 million directly from the Tigers.
1 CHESLIN KOLBE
Cheslin Kolbe made headlines when he allegedly rejected a R15 million deal to play for the Stormers.
Kolbe has since rubbished that figure and revealed that he would have been taking a big pay cut to rejoin the Stormers.
Kolbe accepted a mega-money deal to go to Japan instead with Suntory Goliath said to be paying him more than R20 million per season.
Scotland’s Finn Russell’s new deal with Bath makes him the highest-paid player in the world.
There is a suggestion that Siya Kolisi’s deal with Racing 92 might put him in a similar bracket, however, those figures have not yet been confirmed.