Australian Rugby Union boss John O'Neill claimed a "significant" number of Wallabies had signed up for the World Cup bonus payments package as another round in the war of words with the Rugby Union Players Association (RUPA) developed.

The financial package for the players was the other major bone of contention between the ARU and RUPA after an agreement was thrashed out over the contentious World Cup participation agreement.

RUPA took the ARU to the NSW Supreme Court over the agreement, but last week dropped its action after changes to the original document.

RUPA chief executive officer Tony Dempsey said the players had accepted the document "in its totality" even though it didn't comply with its collective bargaining agreement with the ARU, but the players have been offered monetary compensation for the discrepancy.

Dempsey said it was in the hands of the ARU to decide what was a "fair and reasonable" bonus package for the players and suggested the National Sports Disputes Centre might be needed to mediate.

RUPA's latest pay proposal submitted last Friday was rejected by the ARU which revealed a number of Wallabies had agreed to its bonus package in South Africa last weekend.

"A significant number of players have already signed documents accepting our bonus offer," O'Neill said.

"And the players in South Africa had indicated as a group that they intended to sign and accept the bonus," added O'Neill, who expected the remaining players would sign up at the Wallaby training camp in Coffs Harbour this week.

Dempsey said he had spoken to a number of the Wallabies since their return from South Africa.

"They are satisfied that as a result of the legal action we were able to bring about changes which made the participation agreement far more appealing so they wanted to sign it and get on with the task of winning the World Cup" Dempsey said.

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