RPA seeks minimum salary after claiming mascots get paid more than some players

'So Welford the Tiger gets protected and the players don’t. That is a big one for me.'

Bath’s mascot, Maximus the Lion, looks on ahead of the Gallagher Premiership match against Newcastle in December (Steven Paston/PA)

Rugby Players’ Association general secretary Christian Day is seeking to introduce a minimum salary into the Gallagher Premiership after claiming that club mascots are better paid than some of his members.

Day uses the example of a vacancy to become Welford the Tiger, the mascot at Leicester, currently advertised for the adult living wage of £9.50 per hour, to illustrate the unsatisfactory salaries earned by a number of academy and senior professionals.