Six Nations: England pay split ‘an easy decision’ – Ben Youngs

Venue: Twickenham Stadium Date: Saturday, 13 March Kick-off: 16:45 GMT
Coverage: Listen to commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live; Live text commentary and post-match video highlights on the BBC Sport website and app.

It was an “easy decision” for England’s players to share their fees and ensure fringe members were paid the same for the Six Nations, says Ben Youngs.

Usually, players outside the 23 matchday squad would not receive a full match fee of about £17,000.

“Everyone is in it together. It is an easy decision,” Youngs told BBC Sport.

“Only 23 get to take the field but that doesn’t mean that only 23 are training hard and doing everything they can to prep the team.

“Everyone is pulling their weight to make this team as good as they can.”

Scrum-half Youngs, according to a report in the Times, is part of a five-player committee who unanimously voted on the new pay structure.

The newspaper adds that the new deal will mean that each player in the squad will receive about £15,000 per match, regardless of if they play or not.

England’s players agreed to take a year-long 25% pay cut in September in light of the reduction of Rugby Football Union revenue from ticket sales and other matchday activities.

England, whose title defence is all but over after defeats by Wales and Scotland in the opening three rounds, meet France at Twickenham on Saturday.

England polish up on referee etiquette

England attack coach Simon Amor says England have been working on their etiquette around referees after giving up 41 penalties in their first three games.

Captain Owen Farrell was unable to convince French referee Pascal Gauzere that Wales were given an unfair advantage as a quickly-taken penalty resulted in the opening score in the defeat in Cardiff.

Test referees Wayne Barnes and Matt Carley have been at England training this week to help England improve their disciplinary record.

“There are certain questions from the players around how they ask a question of a referee in a game,” explained Amor

“What is the way, what about the timing, when do I approach someone?

“There are also constant discussions between players and referees about where is the law, what can we do, what can’t we do, so we looked for clarification on that.”

Amor also revealed that head coach Eddie Jones offered his players an amnesty, telling them to come forward and approach him if they felt they gave away an avoidable penalty.

“The guys were very honest and going straight to Eddie about which ones they got wrong,” Amor added. “The way they have taken on that individual responsibility has been excellent.”