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These are your latest rugby headlines on Friday, August 7
Hearn fires new Pollock warning
Eddie Hearn has doubled down on his belief that Henry Pollock deserves to become rugby union’s first £1million-a-year player, warning rugby must change its ways.
The boxing promoter, who represents the 21-year-old flanker, caused a stir this week by claiming Northampton Saints should hand Pollock a seven-figure salary as negotiations continue over a new contract.
Now Hearn has gone even further, arguing Pollock’s earning potential is being artificially restricted by rugby’s salary cap and claiming English rugby is failing to capitalise on one of its biggest stars.
Pollock is currently reported to earn around £150,000 a year from Northampton, with a further £150,000 through his enhanced England contract. But Hearn believes those figures fall well short of the player’s true value.
“This isn’t a guy you’ve never heard of,” Hearn told Sky Sports. “This is the absolute flagship superstar of English rugby. He is a red-hot superstar of the sport.
“Young kids are scoring tries and trying to replicate him. They’re going into local grassroots rugby clubs hoping to be the next Henry Pollock. Season-ticket holders are buying tickets to watch him.
“Some love him, some hate him. Everybody talks about him. And he’s going nowhere. He’s 21. He’s the future of the sport.”
Hearn stressed that Pollock has no desire to leave Northampton, but believes the club and English rugby should do everything possible to reward and retain a player he believes can drive the sport to new heights.
“He has a fantastic opportunity to change this sport forever in this country and make rugby red hot again,” Hearn added.
“Rugby is a great sport. It’s full of great people. It’s full of history. It’s full of legacy. We have to make it aspirational across many different levels.
“We need to show young people they can chase championships and legacies themselves and that there’s a big financial future within the sport.”
The Matchroom chief also took aim at Premiership Rugby’s salary cap, warning that it prevents clubs from building teams around multiple marquee names.
“I hate this idea of one marquee player,” he said. “The structure is completely wrong. I’ll be having those meetings with Premiership Rugby to talk about why this is a terrible idea.
“You need to make sure these young players are making as much money as possible. You don’t want to limit them.
“You’re never going to drive money into the sport by limiting the opportunity for owners to create winning clubs and big commercial clubs.
“Forget this capping of things and saying you’re only allowed one star player. Have a whole team of star players.
“Let’s bring the money into rugby. Let’s make sure we can grow these fan bases and create superstars within the team.
“This is all going to filter down to grassroots. More money into the sport, more superstars, more big-name players, bigger viewership across broadcasters. And all of a sudden, the sport becomes hot again.”
Hearn’s latest comments come after his initial demand for a £1million salary sparked widespread debate over whether rugby can ever afford to pay its elite players in line with stars in other professional sports, particularly while Premiership clubs continue to operate under a £6.4million salary cap.
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Top club hit by attack
Stade Francais has been hit by a cyberattack, with sensitive data believed to have been stolen from the Top 14 club.
The attack has been claimed by the Qilin ransomware group, who are now demanding a ransom payment from the French side.
A payment deadline of August 15 has been set by the cybercriminals, who have threatened to publish the stolen information online if it is not met. A countdown timer reinforcing the deadline is currently displayed on the Qilin website.
The group – which specialises in ransomware attacks and extortion – has already published a selection of images showing passports and national identity cards belonging to Stade Francais players, according to cyberattack whistleblowing site Cyberattaque.org.
While the group has not specified the volume of data it claims to have stolen from the club, it is believed that the identity documents will likely be used in either identity theft or targeted phishing campaigns.
Last year, Qilin hit headlines for launching an attack on public high schools in the Hauts-de-France region of France, with 80 per cent of schools in the region affected.
Wales star set for return
Exeter Chiefs head coach Rob Baxter is hopeful that captain Dafydd Jenkins will return to action next month.
The Wales international missed the inaugural Nations Championships campaign this summer after undergoing surgery on a shoulder injury. However, he is now set to return ahead of the Chiefs’ PREM Rugby opener against Gloucester at the end of next month.
“Daf should be back around about the start of the Prem,” said Baxter in an update on his squad. “That’s obviously a situation that will then make that back five look really, really strong and very, very competitive with the couple of the new guys who’ve come in.
“There’s a lot of competition around the front row and probably around the back five of the scrum, especially around the back row when Tom Hooper is back.”
After a successful 2025/26 season saw them reach the PREM Rugby final, Baxter is keen to go one step further and knows there is plenty of competition for spaces ahead of the new league campaign.
“We had a hard pre-season last year, and I think the guys came in in good nick as well. So, most of the lads are up around where they were after four weeks of pre-season last year,” he continued.
“The defining factor comes in a few weeks’ time when we’ve got quite a lot of guys away internationally when they come in. We need to see where they are because they’re going to have to get up to speed very, very quickly.
“They’ll have three or four weeks for that first PREM game, and they are going to make up probably at least a third of our 23, and that’s what’s really going to create the competition if we do really have challenges around most of those slots.
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