Job offer for World Cup stars facing axe

HALF the England women’s rugby squad, who face New Zealand in the World Cup final here on Saturday, will not have their contracts renewed immediately after the tournament.

But a wealthy investor is riding to the rescue, offering a lifeline to those set to lose their jobs.

The Rugby Football Union are switching their women’s funding from 15-a- side to sevens in the build-up to the Sevens World Cup in 2018.

It means the number of contracts will be slashed from 50 fulltime and part-time deals to 17 full-time Sevens contracts. Some, including centre and goalkicker Emily Scarratt (below), are sure to receive a sevens contract, but a number of World Cup stars will be out of a job.

The players were aware of this when they signed their professional contracts last year. But Simon Pennock, chairman of the sports sponsorship company SNAP and Lions Academy, has decided to try to bail them out. England players earn about £20,000 per year and Pennock is offering to match their salaries, for three months initially, in exchange for full-time or parttime roles at either of his two companies — making up for the £5,000 they would have earned on an RFU contract. After the three months he is prepared to offer them full-time roles if they want them. Speaking exclusively to Sportsmail, he said: ‘ We were saying how

crazy it is. Then we thought, “Hang on a minute, these girls would be perfect”.’

‘I chatted with some of the girls after their semi-final win over France on Tuesday. The ones we spoke to were very keen.

‘They are very focused and I’m sure they think about their careers a lot so if we can give them a buffer, that works.

‘They are only allowed one shirt for the tournament and have to take that home. So I thought, “This isn’t right”, and wanted to do something. (I’m not) a charity worker — this is good for us too. It seems like a win-win.’

Pennock, 56, who is based in Teddington, south London, was met with a positive response.

He is set for further meetings with players when they return home from the tournament and believes about 10 will take him up on his offer.

Last night an RFU spokeswoman said: ‘The whole team are completely focused on the final and are not getting drawn into any speculation of this kind.’

England full back Danielle Waterman has been ruled out of Saturday’s final after she went off with concussion during the semi-final.