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Pacific Island players face losing potentially up to 40 percent of their salary by opting to go to the Rugby World Cup, instead of retiring from Tests to take up improved contracts with new clubs.
Dan Leo, the European Cup-winning Samoa lock who has spent ten years playing in Europe with Wasps, Bordeaux Bègles, Perpignan and now London Irish, has spoken out over a situation that is being faced by several Pacific Island players ahead of next season.
“I have had the pressure of choosing between whether or not to play for my country right through my career. It’s probably even worse now because of the pressure on clubs to succeed," Leo told Planet Rugby in an exclusive interview.
"I can say confidently that every Pacific Island player when they’re talking with clubs will be pressurised to declare themselves unavailable for internationals. Two contracts, two salaries, one for if they retire/refrain from Tests and one if they don’t which can vary from up to 30 or 40 percent."
Speaking four months ahead of this year’s World Cup, the 32-year-old has lifted the lid on a practice that isn’t new but is more damaging than ever to the progress of Tier Two nations. Samoa, Fiji and Tonga all face the risk of losing their top players to an early retirement because of the money on offer by teams to not lose their players for large parts of the season.
"You’re generally dealing with one or two year contracts, year to year, and clubs plan accordingly. At any one time a third of the squad is going to be off contract, going through the negotiation processes, including a third of the Samoan guys in the national squad. Sometimes that can be an easy process but in a World Cup year we’re away from June until at the earliest when the group stages finish on October 10th.
“Which clubs are going to want to pay for a player who won’t be around for four months?
"Next year is massively important in the Premiership with the possibility of ring-fencing, so clubs are investing wisely to have as many top players as possible around as everyone wants a good start. So who are the easiest guys to pressure into retirement so they can always play for their clubs? Those who aren’t being financially remunerated sufficiently by their countries at the World Cup, which are the Pacific Island boys."
Clubs being eager to save money from a business perspective might be understandable, but targeting a certain group of players and looking to exploit them isn’t.
Census Johnston, now 33, was according to Leo offered a further two-year extension on the end of his current deal with Toulouse that expires in 2016 if he opted to retire from Test rugby.
“It’s sad for Samoa, because we lose our most experienced tighthead prop, the cornerstone of our pack and one of our world class players.
“I’m not here to judge Census for his decision, because I can totally see why he chose to do that. If it comes down to a decision of whether you’re going to put bread on the table or not, what are you going to do? You’ll look after your family every time.
“No one will speak up based on that risk of jeopardising their career, because everyone needs money.”
Other Samoan players, around three of four, are currently facing a similar situation.
“There’s no regulations or ways of stopping clubs from putting pressure on the Island boys, so everyone does it. For the credibility of the Rugby World Cup coming up and with this happening, where does that leave us?
"This issue is nothing new, it came up before with the Fijians in 2011 (when Racing Métro coach Simon Mannix, who was later fired, revealed the situation with Sireli Bobo and Jone Qovu). Keeping the whole thing quiet has been what I’ve experienced in the last six months.”
Read more: http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,2..._47566,00.html
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