Strewth, mate! Fast Eddie's cash jackpot

EDDIE Jones returned to Twickenham this week as an RFU-made millionaire coach. Jones, who was paid over £700,000 p.a. for most of his seven-year tenure as England head coach, is almost certainly one-of-a-kind as the first rugby union coach in the world to reach that level of remuneration.

- NICK CAIN

However, as he returns on yet another well-paid Barbarians jaunt by coaching them against a World XV today, English rugby union should be under no illusions that it has been the fall guy.

The reality at the RFU is that the fat-cat syndrome that has spread throughout the corporate world – whereby an elite tier of ‘operators’ are paid huge salaries which are totally disproportionate to their actual worth – has permeated English rugby’s governing body.

In terms of excessive remuneration it is interesting that Jones and Bill Sweeney, the RFU chief executive who reappointed him after the 2019 World Cup final defeat in Japan, are joined at the hip. Sweeney, like his former head coach, is on a trifling salary of c. £700,000 a year.

This is at a time when, on Sweeney’s watch, two of English rugby’s professional Premiership flagship clubs, Wasps and Worcester, have gone under, and a third, London Irish, are predicted to be following them into the void.

To make matters worse, while the bank accounts of Jones and Sweeney have been overflowing, the second professional tier Championship clubs, who are a crucial part of producing high quality players for the Premiership and England, have had their RFU funding virtually cut off by Sweeney, with only £150,000 paid yearly to each club.

That level of income is laughable when it has to cover payment to 30 players, plus coaches and administrators, and to maintain the upkeep and improvements to stadiums and facilities, as well as meet accommodation and travel costs to away matches.