Farrell facing a massive deferral

ENGLAND captain Owen Farrell will see a whopping 90% of his salary go unpaid between now and the start of next season.

Saracens are the latest to reveal their drastic measures to combat the financial impact of the coronavirus, which includes no player being paid more than £75,000 between now and September.

For Farrell, that means a pay deferral of almost £300,000, with fellow England stars also going without hundreds of thousands of pounds.

The English champions are also taking advantage of the government furlough scheme to pay part of their players’ wages.

Deferred salaries will be repaid over an 18 month period beginning when next season kicks off.

Sarries lock Maro Itoje said: “In order to see this through, the whole organisation needs to pull together and do what we can for the future of Saracens and our individual career’s within the sport.”

■ MARTIN Anayi, the Guinness PRO14 chief executive, has revealed plans to restart the league this summer.

It looks like that games will be played behind closed doors, if only initially, to get the league finished in some shape or form before September.

Presently, with the UK and other countries still in a full lockdown, the resumption of play feels like being some distance off.

The league insist they will follow whatever health advice comes from the government but Anayi was targeting a July return to action.

“I am actually really confident now,” Anayi told The Irish Times.

“I think if you’d asked me that question a few weeks ago we just didn’t have as much as we have now.

“The most important thing is that it’s got to be safe. That’s number one.

“But all indicators are that we will get back to playing, presumably for a period of time behind closed doors, and in July/August.”

Some teams have nine regular season PRO14 matches to be completed, with a further three rounds of post-season matches to be played before a champion is crowned.

However, a truncated completion of the season has been mooted, which involves some matches being declared 0-0 draws in order to propel league towards a swift conclusion.

The league also faces more challenges than most, given it involves teams from five nations and the complications that will bring with travel restrictions currently in place.

The PRO14 have been advised to take a ‘phased return’ approach to travel.