New Zealand Rugby slashes salaries as sport reels from virus

New Zealand Rugby slashed wages for all staff and warned of up to NZ$100 million (US$60 million) in lost revenue Wednesday as leading governing bodies scrambled to absorb the blows of the coronavirus pandemic.  
NZR chief executive Mark Robinson said that in a worst-case scenario the All Blacks -- the top-ranked Test team and three-time world champions -- and the country’s five Super Rugby teams would not play again this year.  
“It’s an incredibly challenging time, we have fantastic rugby people all around the country at the moment dealing with difficult financial circumstances,” Robinson told reporters.

NZR said it had made emergency grants of NZ$250,000 to each of New Zealand’s Super Rugby clubs to tide them over for the next three months.