THE Lions will be almost three times better off than their victorious predecessors in South Africa this summer despite a 25 per cent pay cut.
The tour fee has been reduced by £16,000-a-man to around £50,000 but every player will still be paid £30,000 more than the last Lions to beat the Springboks in a Test series. As proof that less really is more, they will play five matches fewer than Martin Johnson’s squad in 1997.
The first Lions of the professional era were paid a basic £10,000, a sum worth £18,700 today according to the Office for National Statistics. But for the ravages of the pand...