Long-term deals may be answer

PREMIERSHIP clubs’ efforts to get players to accept pay cuts by tomorrow’s deadline has gained momentum – with the sweetener of longerterm contacts.

Strike action was on the cards after the clubs issued an ultimatum for players to agree the cuts in tandem with moves to reduce the salary cap.

But players may have been won over by the prospect of greater security at such a turbulent time.

A succession of contract extensions have already been agreed, weakening the collective position of the league’s workforce.

Players were asked to take temporary cuts of up to 25 per cent in response to the Covid-19 shutdown.

“This is the long-term future of the game,” said players’ union chairman Mark Lambert. “But this, for me, is a system created by the clubs to benefit the clubs. This is opportunism.”

For the foot soldiers, rugby is now a precarious occupation – a point underlined yesterday when Harlequins hooker Rob Buchanan retired, aged 29, to work for a meat supplier.

LEINSTER and Ireland rugby stars Linda Djougang and Adam Byrne have given searingly honest accounts of their experiences of racism in Ireland.

Using Leinster’s official website as a platform, the duo provided support to the Black Lives Matter movement and urged Ireland to become a world leader in the fight against racism.

Djougang, who came to Dublin from Cameroon as a nine-year-old and has made nine Test appearances for Ireland, recently made headlines as she spoke of her work in nursing during the Covid-19 health crisis.

The 24-year-old explained how she was taught to turn the other

Leinster duo Linda Djougang and, right, Adam Byrne who have spoken on racial abuse

DIFFERENCE Players Union chairman Lambert