Australia's Super Rugby and sevens players are poised to agree to a mammoth 60 per cent pay cut across the board for a six-month period, allowing Rugby Australia to slash its wage bill by more than 80 per cent between April and September after the JobKeeper payment is factored in.

The agreement, the finer details of which were being thrashed out on Sunday afternoon, brings to an end almost four weeks of often acrimonious negotiations between Rugby Australia and the Rugby Union Players Association.

Michael Hooper (pictured) Kurtley Beale, Matt Toomua and Dane Haylett-Petty will sacrifice more than $1m between them over six months. Credit:Getty Images

Major questions still hang over the future of the men's and women's sevens programs and the solvency of RA, with no broadcast deal in place yet for 2021.

But finalising the deal will allow RA to apply to World Rugby for access to its $160 million relief fund, potentially drawing on $16m in cash advances and low-interest loans in as little as a week's time.