New Premiership salary cap report names best, worst paid positions

Fly-half is the best-paid position in the Gallagher Premiership, with scrum-half the least remunerated role according to the latest salary cap report published by Premiership Rugby.

The document, which covers the 2022/23 season, is the third annual report to be publicly published by the English league’s administrators.

The 46-page report also highlighted that squad sizes increased from 69 to 76 players last season even though it was the second season in which the league operated under a cap reduced to £5million.

In his introduction, salary cap director Andrew Rogers wrote: “This third annual report performs a key role in ensuring the effective management of a salary cap system.

"This report focuses on player market data that comes from the annual salary cap Audits, but it also covers how the salary cap is managed to support compliance across the Gallagher Premiership rugby clubs.

"Following the inaugural report for 2020/21, we can now provide further insights with comparison data across three seasons (2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23). For the second consecutive season, the salary cap level in 2022/23 was £5m (down from £6.4m in 2020/21).

"Whilst the existing contract discount provision remained for players who signed contracts with their clubs prior to June 18, 2020, fewer players were eligible for this and therefore remained under the salary cap. Clubs saw their average cash spend decrease in 2022/23 compared to 2021/22.

"Following the administration of Wasps, Worcester Warriors, and London Irish during the 2022/23 salary cap year, annual salary cap audits were undertaken at 10 clubs for 2022/23. Therefore, figures for 2020/21 and 2021/22 include data from 13 clubs, but 2022/23 includes 10 clubs.

"In the case of players from Wasps and Worcester Warriors who joined another Premiership Club during the 2022/23 season, for the purpose of analysis in this report, the salary received at the new club has been adjusted to give a full season value.

"The overall (senior and academy) average squad sizes increased from 69 to 76. This change occurred with an increase in the senior salary cap squad from 45 to 47 and an increase in the academy salary cap squad from 24 to 29.

"Fly-half remains the highest-paid position with an average income of £217,761 (up from £217,153). Scrum-half was the lowest, with an average income of £121,104 (down from £132,590).

"Players with over 50 Test caps still deliver the highest income levels and the average income of players with over 50 Test caps has increased to £361,051 (up from £339,481 in 2021/22).

"In terms of competitive balance, which is one of the objectives of the salary cap, Gallagher Premiership Rugby continued to grow. Across the last six seasons, 85 per cent of teams have reached the top four.

"Compared to our European counterparts, Premiership Rugby had the highest percentage of close games (43 per cent) and the highest average number of tries per game (7.02). Premiership Rugby also compares favourably with other sporting competitions in terms of competitiveness."

• Click here to read the entire salary cap annual report for 2022/23