FEARS BORTHWICK IS ‘UNSACKABLE’ DUE TO RFU’S FINANCIAL STATE
THE financial crisis besetting English rugby is so acute there are fears England head coach Steve Borthwick is ‘unsackable’ because the RFU can’t afford a pay-off, no matter how badly his team perform.
The World Cup starts on Friday with England as longodds sixth favourites at best.
Borthwick signed a five-year contract last year and is understood to earn just over £700,000 per year. Sacking him and his staff this year could cost in the region of £3m.
‘After paying Leicester something like £500,000 compensation to get Borthwick last year, on top of huge severance (pay of about £1.4m) for (former coach) Eddie Jones, there’s no appetite to sack Borthwick,’ said one highranking source. ‘It would be too expensive.’
Another source added:
‘The RFU is on the ropes financially. They are expecting to suffer huge losses over the next couple of years.’
The parlous state of the RFU’s finances are laid bare in their latest accounts, just published. The club game has been in crisis for a while, with Worcester and Wasps put into administration. The governing body is far from in rude health either.
The RFU’s financial statements detail how the Covid pandemic and the rising cost of living were among the factors that have cost them £150m in lost revenues. England attendances have failed to return to pre-Covid levels. The RFU have also fully drawn down two loans worth £50m and £14m.
The financial stresses comes at a time when the RFU are offering bigger potential bonuses to their players at the World Cup than any other governing body.
In the unlikely event England win in France, the players would collect an RFU bonus worth around £212,000 apiece. The French would get around £172,000 each from their federation for winning, while the players from New Zealand and Australia expect bonuses of up to £100,000 from their federations if they triumph. Meanwhile, Borthwick (left) is confident of having a clean bill of health for his side’s clash against Argentina, despite Courtney Lawes missing England’s welcome ceremony yesterday.
Elliot Daly, George Martin, Kyle Sinckler and Tom Curry all sat out drills on Friday afternoon, while Manu Tuilagi spent part of the session training by himself. The team fly to Marseille on Thursday for the crunch Pool D match, but assistant coach Richard Wigglesworth expects all 33 players to be available for selection.
‘Courtney is a bit sore from training on Friday, so we decided the best thing for him was to not sit in a chair for an hour or so then have to stand up,’ said Wigglesworth, when asked about Lawes’ absence.
‘He is resting at the hotel, he is a bit sore from training, the pitch was heavy because of the rain. It is nothing too serious, we are just looking after him.
‘Tom Curry should be good to go, we are hopeful everyone is going to be ready. We don’t know yet for sure, but we think we should be good going in.
‘There are a few little bumps and bruises like everyone has, but I think we will go into next weekend with a pretty full bill of health.’