Escape for Sarries over Euro blunder
SARACENS escaped being kicked out of the European Cup last night as they were fined £43,000 for fielding an ineligible player. The disgraced holders allowed American prop Titi Lamositele to play in the win against Racing 92 last month, the day after his work-permit had expired. For that embarrassing oversight, tournament organisers fined them £43,000, with £21,500 of that suspended until the end of the 2020-21 season. Lamositele has been a Sarries
squad member since 2015 and was eligible when the match-day 23 was selected for the final pool game against the Parisians, which the champions won 27-24. But by the day of the game Lamositele’s (right) work permit had run out, so Saracens broke the rules. A statement by European Professional Club Rugby said: ‘The committee accepted that Lamositele’s work permit had expired unbeknown to the club, and that Saracens had not sought to gain any unfair advantage. The committee then decided to uphold the misconduct complaint as Saracens had breached EPCR rules.’ Chair of the independent disciplinary committee, Roger Morris, said: ‘This was an unfortunate sequence of events brought about by an administrative oversight. However, Saracens are in breach of the rules of the Heineken Champions Cup and that breach constitutes misconduct which can be proportionately dealt with by way of a financial penalty.’ Saracens could have been thrown out of the competition, but they are now clear to travel to Leinster in April for their quarter-final. The European Cup — which the club have won three times — is the only ‘live’ competition Saracens have left to play for. Their campaign has gone from bad to worse since a
Sportsmail investigation prompted a review into their salary cap compliance for the past three seasons. After ‘reckless’ breaches were discovered, Saracens were docked 35 league points and fined the largest sum in rugby history — £5.36million. Their punishment was later increased to 70 points — and therefore relegation — when it was clear they would break the £7m cap again this season. The full report into their misdemeanours was then released, which showed that investment arrangements between now-retired chairman Nigel Wray and players Maro Itoje, Chris Ashton, Richard Wigglesworth