With the Rugby World Cup underway, and Australia looking to improve on the third placed finish from last time, Aussie rugby fans are hoping that there aren’t any Japan-style shocks involving their team.

While a World Cup triumph has little to do with money, and more about honour, soon enough the world’s best players will be back playing club rugby, many of them in France’s Top 14 league. The French league is home to some of world rugby’s best – and most highly paid – talent.

Of the ten best paid players on the planet, nine of them play in the French league.

But such are the fluctuations in exchange rates that from one month to the next, the actual amount they get to send home can vary wildly. How the euro performs compared with their home currency will determine how far a player’s money goes when they transfer it back to their home bank account.

So, let’s have a look at these player’s salaries and see who the real winners are, when you compare what they get for their money now compared to last year.

Top 4 highest paid international rugby players in France

Dan Carter is, by some distance, the highest paid player in the French league, and given the weakness of the New Zealand dollar compared with the euro in the last year, his money now goes even further – around 12% further than last year – when he sends his money home to his native New Zealand.

The losers are those that send their money back home to the UK. For example, Welsh player Leigh Halfpenny now gets 9% less for his money when he sends it back home due to the strength of the pound versus the euro in the last 12 months.

Frenchmen Morgan Parra and Thierry Dusatoir are amongst the most highly paid players in the French league, but they have been excluded from this list as they’ll probably be keeping their earnings in France. However, they may be interested to know that because of the weakness in the euro, their euro would go 8.9% less far compared to last year when transferring to the UK, and they’d get a massive 17.4% less when transferring into USD. Probably best to keep your hard-earned in France until things start to pick up, eh lads?

If, like these rugby players, you’re working abroad and need to send money home, you can see how the exchange rates will affect. By using things like forward contracts – where you can fix an exchange rate while the going’s good – you can guarantee that rate for all of your monthly salary payments, so you’ll know what you’re getting every month and are protected against fluctuations in exchange rates. Speak to the World First team to find out more.