Top14's massive salary cap now dwarfs that of the Premiership - confirmed

The gap between the budgets of the Top 14's biggest hitters - nearly to a team bolstered by the warchests of multi-millionaires - and that of the Premiership and PRO14 would appear to be growing.

The League National de Rugby (LNR) in France have confirmed the new Top 14 salary cap which will be in place for the next three seasons.

The new cap effectively dwarfs that of the Gallagher Premiership.

The LNR have set the cap at €11.3 million euro per season, or roughly 10 million pounds sterling. Spread over a squad of 35, that works out at an average of €322,000 per player.

That's just under 43 per cent larger than that of the Premiership.

However, Gallagher Premierships clubs are allowed two Excluded Players whose salaries sit outside the cap, enabling clubs to recruit and retain world-class talent.

Within the £7 million Salary Cap ceiling, clubs are encouraged to develop homegrown talent by accessing up to £600,000 of Home Grown Player Credits.

While the PRO14 has no official salary caps, the four Irish provinces player cost amount to roughly £7 million, which is on par with the Premiership's cap.

Welsh and Scottish teams operate on less again. The SRU have been quoted as stating that Edinburgh Rugby has a player budget of £4.8m, while Glasgow Warriors operates on approximately £5.1 million.

The Welsh regions have a budget in and around the £5 million mark, varying slightly on each region.