Punishing Tigers would do no good

Ex-Sarries coach on salary probe

ALEX Sanderson, who was at Saracens when they were found to have breached the salary cap, has questioned the sense in punishing Leicester if they are found guilty.

The Tigers are being investigated for possible historical breaches of the rules linked to image rights payments.

Sanderson, Sale’s director of rugby, was head coach at Saracens when they were relegated and fined for exceeding the cap and he suspects they were singled out for activities which were rife. ‘There were rumours about other teams transgressing,’ he said yesterday.

But his argument is that there is nothing to be gained by making a new regime at Leicester pay for alleged cap breaches in the past. ‘i was in it with Saracens and i wouldn’t want anyone to go through that again,’ he said. ‘Now i’ve got through the grief cycle, to a certain extent i just think let sleeping dogs lie.

‘i don’t think it’s anything to do with current (Leicester) management or players and it seems they could be punished, if they are found guilty, for the acts of predecessors.

‘What good is it going to do to drag someone else through the mud, particularly people at Leicester who were not involved at the time? i don’t see — apart from vilification and retribution — what good it is going to do the game. i would rather put an end to it all. it just keeps rearing its ugly head.’

Exeter were especially aggrieved at the way Saracens denied them Premiership titles while dodging budget restrictions and director of rugby Rob Baxter said: ‘The salary cap (regulations) always had a line that said there is an onus on everyone to not try to find loopholes. Things about, “Do image rights count for this? Does childcare count?” — they were all wrapped up in a very short sentence that you shouldn’t try to find ways around supplementing a player’s salary.’

Backed by billionaire owner Steve Lansdown, Bristol are the richest club in the league, but director of rugby Pat Lam staunchly defended the salary cap.

‘We get hit with it a lot, with our owner, but i can say 100 per cent that everything we do is declared,’ he said.