Bonus payments for South Africa's Rugby World Cup champions made a dent in the profits of SA Rugby, the organisation revealed at its annual meeting on Wednesday.
SA Rugby made a post-tax profit of 8.5 million rand for the 2019 financial year despite paying out 62m rand (about US$4.2-million at the prevailing exchange rate) for the Springboks' triumph in Japan last November.
Details of the bonuses were not disclosed but SA Rugby said in a statement that the pay-outs were to "honour player and management performance commitments for winning RWC 2019".
Jurie Roux, chief executive of SA Rugby, said the organisation had practised financial discipline in order to reduce its overdraft from 68m rand ($A5.8 million) to 7m rand ($A597,686) during the year.
Income for the year was 1.29-billion rand ($A110 million).
He said the improved financial position had enabled SA Rugby to be better prepared for the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, "which has had the effect of tearing up all our approved budgetary plans".
No rugby has been played in South Africa since March 18 and there are no definite plans for a resumption. Roux said provision had been made to cut 1.2-billion rand from the sport's budget in 2020, which includes cuts in pay for players and officials.
