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So how much is Charles Piutau actually going to be paid at Bristol?
By Ian Cameron
Various reports this morning have speculated on how much Charles Piutau is going to be paid in one season's time after his shock move to monied Championship side Bristol was announced last night.
Most media outlets are suggesting he will at least become the best paid player in the Premiership, although that is dependent on two things - that Bristol bounce back up into the Premiership and also what future deal England secondrow ace Maro Itoje strikes with Saracens in 2019.
Some reports have him becoming the highest paid player in the world.
When Piutau signed for Ulster Rugby last year at £600,000 per annum he became the best paid back-three player in the world.
The Belfast Telegraph are reporting that he will earn £900,000 per season over two years.
However Gavin Mairs in the Telegraph in the UK is reporting that he will earn £1 million and will become the best paid player in the world.
Dan Carter's deal with Racing 92 has been widely reported as €1.2 millon euro, which works out at approximately £1.09 million a season.
However that deal will expire by the time Piutau actually starts at Bristol, and it is unlikely what will be a 36-year-old Carter will be able to command such a sum again - and that's presuming he doesn't hang up his boots after his current deal expires.
Maro Itoje could yet beat both their records. It is widely expected that Itoje will be paid at least £1million when his contract is renewed in 2019.
Piutau will be joining at least two other players earning in excess of half a million pounds per year. Future teammates Ian Madigan and Steven Luatua are both reported to be earning in excess of £600,000.
Commenting on his next move, Piutau said:
"It was a very hard decision as I have really enjoyed my first year at Ulster. The welcome that I had and the way I have been looked after has been the best of any club I've been at. The management and players really made me feel part of the family and that will make it extremely hard to leave when the time comes.
"The biggest consideration in my decision to join Bristol is the opportunity to play with my brother Siale, as he approaches the end of his career. It will also be great to work with Steven Luatua and Pat Lam again.
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Latest Comments
Well that sux.
Go to commentsLike I've said before about your idea (actually it might have been something to do with mine, I can't remember), I like that teams will a small sustainable league focus can gain the reward of more consistent CC involvement. I'd really like the most consistent option available.
Thing is, I think rugby can do better than footballs version. I think for instance I wanted everyone in it to think they can win it, where you're talking about the worst teams not giving up because they are so far off the pace we get really bad scoreline when that and giving up to concentrate on the league is happening together.
So I really like that you could have a way to remedy that, but personally I would want my model to not need that crutch. Some of this is the same problem that football has. I really like the landscape in both the URC and Prem, but Ireland with Leinster specifically, and France, are a problem IMO. In football this has turned CL pool stages in to simply cash cow fixtures for the also ran countries teams who just want to have a Real Madrid or ManC to lose to in their pool for that bumper revenue hit. It's always been a comp that had suffered for real interest until the knockouts as well (they might have changed it in recent years?).
You've got some great principles but I'm not sure it's going to deliver on that hard hitting impact right from the start without the best teams playing in it. I think you might need to think about the most minimal requirement/way/performance, a team needs to execute to stay in the Champions Cup as I was having some thougt about that earlier and had some theory I can't remember. First they could get entry by being a losing quarter finalist in the challenge, then putting all their eggs in the Champions pool play bucket in order to never finish last in their pool, all the while showing the same indifference to their league some show to EPCR rugby now, just to remain in champions. You extrapolate that out and is there ever likely to be more change to the champions cup that the bottom four sides rotate out each year for the 4 challenge teams? Are the leagues ever likely to have the sort of 'flux' required to see some variation? Even a good one like Englands.
I'd love to have a table at hand were you can see all the outcomes, and know how likely any of your top 12 teams are going break into Champions rubyg on th back it it are?
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