The reported salary is staggering but something does not quite add up.
On Saturday, we reported that CJ Stander had been offered an improved contract by the IRFU but that his representatives were holding out for a final deal that was more in line with their expectations.
Having initially started out with a basic salary [excluding Test match appearance fees and sponsorship deals] offer of €280,000, the latest contract on the table is for a base salary of just over €400,000 with the same add-ons. Stander wants to stay but his people would have hoped for the Munster star to have been placed with the upper echelon of Irish players, such as Conor Murray and Sean O’Brien. Johnny Sexton’s annual wage of €650,000 would be nice but that is purely wishful thinking.
Annoying https://t.co/R2yi6UrVVq
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) December 17, 2017
The IRFU has recently tied up deals for Peter O’Mahony, Tadhg Furlong and Kieran Marmion and have also secured Garry Ringrose, Rhys Ruddock, Sean Cronin and Rory Best on new contracts.
With Performance Director David Nucifora leading the negotiations, the union remain hopeful that a deal for Stander can be tied up before Christmas and the player himself has stated his desire to stay in the country he first moved to, from South Africa, in late 2012.
The latest development comes the way of a report in The Irish Examiner that Montpellier, who were previously linked with Stander, are offering the 27-year-old a three season package of just over € 2.5m [€840,000 a year]. Simon Lewis is a well respected, and connected, writer who has been extensively covering Munster for years so the Top 14 link will have come on good authority.
The wrinkle here is that the IRFU, we understand, has it on good authority that Montpellier will not be making Stander any offers, and has not made any such offers, until the player himself has made a decision on his future. Ireland coach Joe Schmidt has a good relationship with Montpellier boss Vern Cotter, whom he previously worked with at Clermont.
There is a possibility, of course, that Stander’s representatives are in the final stages of contract talks with the union and are, understandably, trying to secure the best deal possible for their player.
The choice of club Stander has been linked to, given the close relationship of Schmidt and Cotter, has added a extra level of intrigue to events.
As for the player himself, he is doing all he can for both Munster and Ireland on the pitch. The November internationals coincided with a return to form for Stander and one suspects the ankle injury that troubled him at the tail-end of last season has mostly cleared. He was superb in the back-to-back Champions Cup games with Leicester Tigers and he leads the way, across the competition, on 71 carries in four pool games to date.
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