It might not be as highly paid as football and other popular sports, but if you are an elite-level performer in the rugby world, you can earn yourself a pretty penny, to say the least.

When Owen Farrell left Saracens to sign for Top 14 heavyweights Racing 92, he became the best-paid rugby player on the planet, in either code of the game.

The England fly-half/centre is reportedly on just shy of £800,000 per season with the French outfit, ousting Scotland star Finn Russell from the top spot. Funnily enough, it was Russell that left Racing and signed for Bath to become the highest-paid in world rugby last season, and Farrell is seen as the Scotsman's replacement.

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However, also a former Racing 92 player, world champion Siya Kolisi left the French club to sign for Hollywoodbets Sharks in the United Rugby Championship. Being a back-to-back World Cup-winning captain has its perks, and being offered massive money is one of them.

Kolisi's new contract with Sharks has seen him boost his salary dramatically, and he ousts Farrell for the top spot, according to Mywage.co.za. He's moved from fifth place to first after penning the deal.

Rugby league players have been italicised, if you would prefer to focus on union players. Statistics are courtesy of Front Office Sports from Yahoo News, GQ Australia and The Scotsman. Their dollar values have been converted to pound Stirling for better reading.

It's important to note that it has also been reported that Finn Russell is actually on £1 million a season, rather than $1 million. If this was the case, he would be the highest earner in the rugby world, but we will work off the statistics provided from Front Office Sports for this one.

1. Siya Kolisi (Sharks) - £808k

2. Owen Farrell (Racing 92) - £797k

3. Finn Russell (Bath) - £795k

4. Cheslin Kolbe (Suntory Sungoliath) - £740k

5. Faf de Klerk (Yokohama Canon Eagles) - £716k

6. Dan Biggar (Toulon) - £636k

7. Maro Itoje (Saracens) - £636k

8. Antoine Dupont (Toulouse) - £557k

9. Kalyn Ponga (Newcastle Knights) - £506k

10. Nathan Cleary (Penrith Panthers) - £502k

11. Cameron Munster (Melbourne Storm) - £502k

12. Mitchell Moses (Parrametta Eels) - £499k

13. Daly Cherry-Evans (Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles) - £497k

14. Tino Fa’asuamaleaui (Gold Coast Titans) - £497k

15. Payne Haas (Brisbane Broncos) - £497k

16. Steve Luatua (Bristol Bears) - £493k

17. Nicholas Hynes (Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks) - £492k

18. James Tedesco (Sydney Roosters) - £492k

19. Tom Trbojevic - (Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles) - £492k

20. Handre Pollard (Leicester Tigers) - £485k