There will be a sliding scale based on appearances bench duty and so on

There will be a sliding scale based on appearances, bench duty and so on.”The squad will be called in for further training sessions on 28 November and 5 December in the build-up to the Western Samoa international at Twickenham on 16 December. “But now that the players are being paid it would be anomalous if the men who were telling them what to do did not also receive something. Some of my colleagues were starting to become sensitive about it.”The players are due to sign their contracts shortly, although the precise amount each will earn will not be revealed by the RFU. “The total outlay, including some money for the A team squad, is well over pounds 1m, and approaches pounds 1.5m,” Tony Hallett, the RFU secretary, said “But we are not stating what each player is to earn. “Money from rugby never interested me, and I even gave up my career at the start of the year to devote the necessary time to this job of manager,” the former chief executive of Golden Wonder said. Rugby Union

HUGH BATESON
The most recent performance of their charges may have been distinctly amateurish, but now Jack Rowell and the rest of the England management team are to follow the players into the professional world.The Rugby Football Union announced yesterday that Rowell, his assistant coach, Les Cusworth, and the selector Mike Slemen would all be entitled to a share of the pay-out – expected to be in the region of pounds 1.5m – this season to the international squad, who made an unimpressive start to their campaign in Saturday’s defeat by South Africa at Twickenham.Rowell welcomed the principle behind the move, even though it is not about to cause a major change in his lifestyle.

If he had damaged his suspension on a stage where another stage came straight after, he would have been out of the contest. I don’t have any tactics for staying ahead, except driving as quickly as I can.”NETWORK Q RAC RALLY Leading standings after 14 stages: 1 C Sainz/L Moya (Sp) Subaru 2hr 23min 37sec; 2 C McRae/D Ringer (GB) Subaru 2:24.16; 3 K Eriksson/S Parmander (Swe) Mitsubishi 2:25.36; 4 R Burns/R Reid (GB) Subaru 2:26.44; 5 B Thiry/S Prevot (Bel) Ford 2:26.49; 6 A McRae/C Wood (GB) Ford 2:28.05; 7 G De Mevius/JM Fortin (Bel) Ford 2:34.16; 8 A Navarra/R Casazza (It) Toyota 2:35.05; 9 R Madeira/N Silva (Por) Mitsubishi 2:37.07; 10 G Evans/H Davies (GB) Ford 2:37.24.. I’m going as quick as I can to try to close up the massive lead Carlos had and I’m happy I’ve closed some of it.”Sainz said: “He’s been lucky and taking a lot of risks. McRae resorted to brute force and a log to make temporary repairs and then drove the 45 miles to the more orthodox service.His Subaru duly tended, he revived his magnificent assault on the final two stages, at Grizedale, in the Lake District McRae closed in by another 18 seconds. McRae said last night: “The problem to the suspension was not as bad as it looked but the punctures were much more trouble. He not only made it to the finish but still managed to take a further two seconds off Sainz’s advantage.

Seven miles from the end of the stage he had a second puncture, and damaged suspension and bodywork. Sainz reported his overheating problem had been cured but was powerless to prevent McRae making up 11 seconds on the next stage, another four on the one after.At Kershope, however, McRae encountered another test of his resolve. Eriksson, too, lost two minutes after damaging the front offside of his car on that fiendish rock. Malcolm Wilson, the 39-year-old Cumbrian, rolled his Ford Escort into a ditch and had to concede it was the end of his rally. Alister McRae rolled his Escort, but was able to continue.His brother, Colin, resumed with defiant and unrivalled pace. He said: “By the time we saw the rock it was far too late at the speed we were going, so I hit it and the tyre went soft very quickly.”Sainz also had his problems He reached the end of the stage with severe overheating The stage wreaked havoc.

A third of the way in to the world championship’s longest stage, the 36.61 miles of Pundershaw, McRae ran over an unaccommodating rock. Sweden’s Kenneth Eriksson, in the other Mitsubishi, hit the rock which caused McRae’s first puncture and slipped to third.That opening stage revealed McRae’s hand. The posturing of the Sunday show stages behind them, the 27-year-old advanced from third place to a lead of 27 seconds over Eriksson, 43 seconds over Sainz And then they arrived in Kielder. The overnight leader, Tommi Makinen of Finland, was forced to retire after clipping a log on the day’s first stage, damaging his suspension and subsequently breaking his transmission. He effected emergency, not to say crude, repairs to his Subaru and went on the charge again.At the half way point, he had reduced a deficit of 1min 14 sec to 39 seconds behind the leader, his team-mate Carlos Sainz, the only man who stands between McRae and the distinction of becoming Britain’s first world rally champion.Misfortune in the Mitsubishi camp conveniently left the Subaru pair at the head of the field.