Cheating salary cap ‘as bad as doping’
SARACENS’ Premiership rivals are pushing hard for the champions to be properly punished if found guilty of breaching the salary cap.
Premiership Rugby (PRL) launched an investigation last week after Sportsmail revealed that Saracens owner Nigel Wray had entered into business partnerships with some of his club’s leading players, enabling them to boost their income. Belatedly, PRL confirmed they had no prior knowledge of such arrangements and that they were exploring the matter. A report in the Rugby Paper on Sunday claimed that other Premiership clubs are determined to ensure appropriate sanctions are imposed if there is a guilty verdict, afterr alleged breaches by two clubs in 2015 were swept under the carpet.pet
Sale director of rugby Steve Diamond has spoken up about what many in the league regard as blatant cheating, which has been ignored for too long.
‘ If there’s a breach, the punishments that are in place should take effect,’ Diamond told Sportsmail.
Those punishments include heavy fines or even points being docked, but they have not been applied in the past and Diamond said: ‘It’s hard enough spending up to the cap without sides going further than that. How can we catch them? It’s not a fair playing field, is it?
‘If we spend another £2.5million up to the cap plus marquee players, we’ll be putting seven internationals on top of the
squad I’ve got and lose none of my senior players. We have to have a chance of being a top- four side with that — if everyone is sticking tto the rules.’ Many involved in the elite club game will no longer accept that cap breaches are an inevitability. The recent funding from private equity firm CVC may be another factor in what is widely seen as a long overdue clean-up operation. Diamond, who was Saracens director of rugby from 2004 to 2006, added: ‘I have always screamed from the rooftops about this, but with Ian Ritchie heading up Premiership Rugby now (as chairman) and the huge investment from CVC, you can’t have any dealings which are underhand. ‘It is unfair. Cheating the salary cap is the same as taking performance-enhancing drugs. It’s just a different way of getting one over on the opposition. ‘There are forensic accountants on these jobs and if they’re doing it, they’ll get caught. Whether they are or not is another matter.’
Sale welcome back Chris Ashton for their European Challenge Cup semi-final at La Rochelle on Saturday.
The England wing suffered a calf strain in national team training and has not played since starting at Twickenham against France on February 10.
Diamond said: ‘ He’s only played in nine games for us this season, so it’s good to have him back for the game this weekend.
‘He adds a lot, he’s got a lot of experience, he talks a lot and he’s very popular.’
Bath announced yesterday that director of rugby Todd Blackadder will step down at the end of this season — a year earlier than planned — to take up a coaching role in Japan.
The West Country club intend to replace Blackadder with former captain Stuart Hooper, while England scrum coach and former Bath forwards guru Neal Hatley will return to them after this year’s World Cup.