London: There is a cruel irony in financial firm Old Mutual Wealth being the sponsor for Saturday's match between England and Samoa at Twickenham.
For while England's Rugby Football Union is indeed the 15-a-side code's oldest and wealthiest national governing body, there's precious little that is mutual in cash terms when their Test team plays Samoa.
This month saw Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, also chairman of the Samoa Rugby Union, declare the SRU bankrupt and blame World Rugby for the cash crisis.
But the global governing body hit back this week by insisting the SRU "is not bankrupt".
Meanwhile, the RFU has pledged to give the SRU £75,000 ($99,767, 84,194 euros) from the proceeds of Saturday's match.
Given each England Test at its 82,000-capacity Twickenham headquarters generates some £10 million for the RFU, however, this 'goodwill' gesture represents less than one percent of potential matchday earnings. England's players, amid uncertainty over how the SRU's finances are being distributed, have decided against donating a portion of their £23,000 per man match fee to their Samoa counterparts whom, by contrast, will receive a mere £600 each.
"The decision was made along the ethics of paying an opposition to play against you and the future issues that might create," explained England prop Dan Cole.
Samoa captain Chris Vui welcomed the £75,000 from the RFU by saying: "I think they care. It’s a lot of money.
"It's not their (the RFU's) problem to give us money."
England coach Eddie Jones, a technical consultant to Samoa in 2006, insisted rugby chiefs were doing their best to support the game in the Pacific islands. AFP
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