LIONS, CLUBS AND ENGLAND FACE CHAOS
THIs Is chaos — unprecedented chaos. The unthinkable could happen. The strongest team in the history of english rugby could go down, theoretically taking a core of the national squad with it.
There are ramifications on so many levels if saracens, winners of the premiership and european Champions Cup double last season, are automatically relegated as a result of their salary cap breaches which were first exposed in these pages.
a dynasty stands on the brink of collapse. saracens have won four of the last five premiership titles. They have won three of the last four elite continental prizes.
They have assembled a squad of remarkable depth and formidable international class — by circumventing the league regulations on an epic scale, it turns out.
so their rivals have turned on them, which is not a huge surprise. There have been breaches before and the other clubs have been bought off. They were paid to stay quiet.
Not this time. This time, they saw the offenders heavily punished for past spending excesses and decided even that was not sufficient.
Who could blame them? The howls of injustice did not subside when each of the other clubs received a £350,000 pay-out. exeter raged at the fact they had been cheated of titles.
The angry noise carried all the way into Tuesday’s premiership rugby board meeting, the first full gathering since the judgement against saracens was revealed in November.
Backed into a corner, it appears the champions have realised there is nowhere left to turn. amid indications that their attempts to hastily off-load players to slash the wage bill have not run smoothly, saracens appear to be facing a stark scenario.
They have realised they must either accept automatic relegation at the end of this season or hold out for the inevitability that the same fate will befall them a year later. If they are found to have been in breach of the cap again during this campaign, their sanction would exceed the one imposed on them late last year.
By taking their medicine now, it would allow saracens to recover perhaps a scrap of dignity and credibility from this damaging episode. Just a scrap, though.
The club have isolated themselves and are now vastly unpopular with their league rivals. This week, there were still players from other clubs expressing private fury about what the trophy-hoarders had been up to.
The up-shot is likely to be dramatic and spark utter chaos. Just imagine england captain owen Farrell and so many other stalwarts of the national team’s World Cup campaign being plunged into the relative obscurity of the Championship.
It can’t happen. Just imagine the likes of Maro Itoje and the Vunipola brothers strutting their stuff at ampthill or at Hartpury rFC — the college where Gloucester train. It can’t happen.
When Newcastle were relegated at the end of last season their proud, loyal flanker Mark Wilson bit the bullet and agreed a loan deal with sale on the basis that he would return to the North east when the Falcons soared back into the top division.
That was possibly because there wasn’t a sudden glut of Test stars on the market — and Wilson is not in the top tier of earners.
Farrell is. Itoje is. The Vunipolas are. Jamie George will be on big money, as will elliot Daly, not to mention George kruis, alex Lozowski and so many others. Where would they all go? some might stay, but those wanting to remain on england’s radar would have to be starring in the premiership.
so this is not a positive prospect for eddie Jones, the england head coach.
He might have been planning some squad rotation, but losing his captain and a large core of his experienced players would not have been on any wish list.
There were nine saracens in last year’s 31-man World Cup squad. six players from the club started the final against south africa, with a further two on the bench.
But the chaos runs even deeper. Next season, if saracens drop down a division and take some of their leading lights with them, it will impact on the Lions.
Warren Gatland would have to decide whether to overlook anyone outside the primary leagues. The kiwi would be unlikely to pluck players from the Championship to take on the springboks in their own back yard.
and where would this doomsday scenario leave the much-touted plans for the premiership to be ring-fenced? all the indications were that once Newcastle had surely come back up, the trap-door would be shut behind them.
But that might not be an option if saracens accept a relegation based on administrative cheating and disciplinary response, rather than failings on the field.
They are stuck in a corner and all the indications are they have nowhere to go but down.