All the players of English club the Sale Sharks have agreed to take permanent pay cuts to help the club through the Covid-19 pandemic.

Many Premiership sides, including Sale, had agreed temporary pay cuts of up to 25% in the early stages of the crisis to help clubs remain solvent.

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But Sale has now become the first Premiership club whose players agreed to take permanent pay cuts in an effort to help the club through the Covid-19 pandemic.

‘The club has reached agreement with every player regarding amended terms to their contracts,’ a statement said.

‘The club would also like to thank all our non-playing team including commercial, coaching and medical staff, as they also have agreed pay cuts.

‘Every single person at Sale Sharks has accepted a reduction and is contributing to helping the survival of Sale Sharks through these difficult times.’

The Rugby Players’ Association has also threatened legal action after saying its union members were not consulted before Premiership clubs unanimously agreed to reduce the salary cap by £1.4 million from the 2021-22 season.

But Sale say the salary reductions will allow their squad – which includes South African stars Faf de Klerk, Lood de Jager, Jean-Luc, Dan and Robert du Preez, Akker van der Merwe, Coenie Oosthuizen, Rohan Janse van Rensburg and Jono Ross – to ‘remain together for the next three or four years’.

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