Top 14 Salaries by Position in Rands (2026 Guide)

If you want to understand how France controls the rugby market, start with the positions within the clubs. The No 10s are financial Royalty in the Top 14.

France’s Top 14 club positions are led by the No 10s, on average. Toulouse and France captain Antoine Dupont as a scrumhalf, is the exception in being the highest paid player in the Top 14 and in the sport.

Every position has a value, and those values tell you exactly how the game is priced in France. And how it is played.

The highest-paid position in France is the flyhalf.

The average Top 14 No 10 earns around €340,000 a year. That is roughly R6.6 million. The elite operate between R11million and R23 million, as is the case with the French Test duo Romain Ntamack (Toulouse) and Matthieu Jalibert (Bordeaux).

Historically, foreign No 10 imports have also topped the salary charts, with All Blacks icon Dan Carter (Racing 92), Scotland’s magician Finn Russell (Racing 92), England’s Owen Farrell (Racing 92) and South Africa’s Handre Pollard (Montpellier) among a quartet whose pedigree commanded annual salaries of R20 million.

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The next tier belongs to the power forwards and decision-makers around them.

Locks earn between €290,000 and €300,000. That translates to R5.6 million to R5.9 million. No 8s sit at a similar level, just under €300,000, or about R5.8 million. The very best tightheads are sought after and exceed the average of a tighthead salary.

Centres sit in the middle of the market at around €270,000. That is R5.2 million to R5.3 million. They are not the headline earners, but they are essential to the playing eco-system in salary cap. There have been exceptions on foreign imports, but the general rule is that you buy a No 10 first and never a midfielder ahead of a No 10.

Dupont aside, scrumhalves come in slightly lower, at around €260,000, or just over R5 million. They are obviously important, but not deemed irreplaceable in the same way as a flyhalf.

Then comes the bottom tier.

Front row players – loosehead, hooker and tighthead – typically sit between €200,000 and €240,000. That is R3.9 million to R4.7 million. Depth and playing number options has reduced the position price. The exceptions are the very best tightheads. They are on R10 million-plus.

The same applies to the back three. Wings and fullbacks range between €220,000 and €250,000, unless it is a big name foreign import like Springboks try-scoring record holder Bryan Habana for Toulon a decade ago, Cheslin Kolbe in moving from Toulouse to Toulon or currently the Bordeaux sensation Louis Bielle-Biarrey, whose club contract expires at the end of this season.

Bielle-Biarrey, just 22 years-old, joined Bordeaux from Grenoble as an 18 year-old, but has been named the Six Nations Player of the Tournament in the last two editions of the tournament. He has broken the competition try-scoring record for tries in successive matches and in a competition edition.

The average Top 14 club winger is on R4.3 million to R4.9 million. This is again down to depth, numbers and being spoilt for choice.

The French clubs pay on influence and scarcity in a position.

The No 10 controls the game, so the No 10 controls the market.
The lock and No 8 are rare profiles, so they command a premium.

The very best tightheads are priced with respect.

The props and wings, generally, exist in volume, which determines their lower market value

Top 14 Salaries by Position (Converted to Rands)