If Eddie Jones’s warning that they will be “physically smashed” against England
on Saturday was not jarring enough for Japan’s players, their coach has revealed
his squad are being paid only £13.64 a day (2,000 yen) to represent their country.
That amount does not even cover a steak (£19.45) or burger with chips (£13.75) at
their trendy south-west London hotel and is a lot less than England’s 23-man
squad who are on £25,000 a match per man.
However, Jamie Joseph said his team are more concerned about making their mark at
Twickenham than any financial reward. “Our guys here who are amateur, they are
employees of companies, they get 2,000 yen a day. While our professional players,
the foreigners we have in our team, don’t get paid for playing for Japan.
“But they do it because they want to play a high level of rugby that they don’t
get in Japan. Playing a team like England is a great opportunity. If you put that
altogether we have got different motivators and we just want to get out and leave our footprint behind.”
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/nov/12/japan-rugby-players-paid-13-pounds-per-day
