Rugby Australia and the players union are set to agree to a historic pay deal in the midst of the coronavirus crisis.

Negotiations between the game's national governing body and the Rugby Union Players Association had dragged on for weeks, but on Tuesday afternoon rumours swirled that a pay cut had been agreed upon.

Sources told the Herald the deal would be done on a tiered basis - which RUPA proposed at the beginning of negotiations.

The tiered model means the game's top earners - such as star Wallabies Michael Hooper, Kurtley Beale and Marika Koroibete - will take a large pay cut so players at the lower end of the scale have only a very small percentage of their salary shaved off in the coming months.