Sexton to overtake Wilkinson on French rugby's rich list

A report by the specialist rugby newspaper reveals that the former Leinster man will pick up a cool €55,000-a-month (£46,784) net, excluding bonuses, while playing for Racing Metro.

England's Jonny Wilkinson is the second best paid player on the list – he will earn €47,000-a-month with Toulon, while his South African team-mate Bryan Habana will pick up €42,000-a-month.

Wales and Perpignan fly-half James Hook is fifth on the list (€35,000-a-month) just behind France's highest-paid player, Nicolas Mas, who will be on €38,000-a-month with Montpellier.

The reason why foreign players are so high on the list is because they benefit from an advantageous tax discount that is not available to French nationals.

However, the report also notes that salaries within the French league are actually dropping as the recession hits.

Sexton's salary will be €650,000 for the year but that is still some way off the €800,000 that Wilkinson earned in 2009. The English legend has taken a big pay-cut to continue his French adventure.

The highest paid player in the history of French rugby was Dan Carter who netted €750,000 for just six months at Perpignan in 2008/09.