England v Uruguay: The figures that put the host’s Rugby World Cup 2015 failure in damning perspective
England could rack up a record score against the bank managers, civil servants and students of Uruguay tonight and it would do little to raise the gloomy mood surrounding the national team after a calamitous World Cup campaign.
Tonight's dead rubber in Manchester will see an exciting England back line featuring Henry Slade, Alex Goode and Jack Nowell make their World Cup bows, yet even an expert demonstration of attacking rugby against a team primarily made up of amateurs will do little to hide England and the Rugby Football Union's (RFU) failure to make the most of their vastly superior resources.
Forget home advantage, the spending power and size of England Rugby's disposal gave them a leg up on everyone else including favourites to lift the Web Ellis Cup such as New Zealand and Australia.
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£152m – England's towering turnover
The RFU make more money than any other rugby association in the world. Even when it suffers a £2.3m decline in revenue as it did in 2013/14, it still towered over its Tier 1 rivals.
340,347 – Registered Rugby playing population
According to statistics released by World Rugby last year, England has 340,347 registered rugby players. Only South Africa has more with 340,347.
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In contrast, tonight's opponents at the Etihad Stadium, Uruguay, have just 6,069 registered players – roughly one tenth of the venue's capacity.
£15,000 – the price per match of an England player
England's players evenly split a combined match fee of £345,000 – £15,000 each – more than double any other team at the Rugby World Cup. According to the Telegraph, they will also split a £1.2m bonus for their group stage exit.
Unfortunately, the RFU got little reward for the £2.6m paid to Stuart Lancaster's men during the tournament. But at least they can console themselves in the fact they will not have to pay out the promised £6m bonus for winning.
Meanwhile players for Tier 2 nations in the tournament such as Samoa, Fiji and Canada have had to pay their own way home.