SEASON KICKS OFF WITH CLUBS IN DARK OVER SARACENS

THE new Premiership Rugby season will start under the cloud of the salary cap investigation into Saracens, as a judgment may not be made until next month. Club chairmen wanted the matter resolved before tomorrow night’s first game — and there had been rumours an announcement would be made at the beginning of October. But it may still be weeks before Sport Resolutions’ independent disciplinary panel is ready to issue a verdict on whether the Premiership champions breached rules. This means clubs are likely to be in the dark on the outcome for the first few rounds of Gallagher Premiership fixtures. The investigation was prompted by a

Sportsmail inquiry earlier this year, which uncovered a series of investment partnerships and property-sharing arrangements between Saracens owner Nigel Wray and players including England captain Owen Farrell, Maro Itoje and Mako and Billy Vunipola. The existence of these arrangements raised questions over whether Wray’s all-conquering club were operating within the salary cap, which aims to level the playing field by limiting clubs to spending £7m on their playing squads plus two marquee players. With the case thought to be unprecedented in its complexity and the potential ramifications — the maximum penalty being a deduction of 35 points this season — there is no desire to rush the outcome. However, there is a clear timeline with regulations stipulating that the panel has 60 days to reach a decision. Sport Resolutions were involved at the start of September so the process should be nearing its conclusion. Key to the investigation will be determining whether Wray’s partnerships with his players counted as salaries or benefits in kind, and what exactly was declared to the salary cap manager. Saracens responded to questions from Sportsmail in March by insisting that all co-investment and the house-sharing between Wray and players had been declared. However, some weeks later Premiership Rugby (PRL) issued a statement announcing there would be a formal review into the evidence as they were not aware of all the coinvestment arrangements ‘between connected parties and players’. Saracens blamed a ‘minor internal oversight’ for not having disclosed all the details and denied any wrongdoing, issuing a statement saying that ‘coinvestments are not part of the salary regulations’. PRL declined to comment.