More pain for Saracens
Heavy defeat in Europe as club ditch appeal
Saracens players and staff have arranged a crisis summit, with the club ready to abandon plans to demand a review over their £5.4 million fine and 35-point penalty for salary-cap breaches.
The deadline with authorities for requesting any appeal is today and, while the club remain staunch in their belief that the sanctions are “heavy-handed”, staff are said to be increasingly anxious to draw a line under the saga.
Director of rugby Mark Mccall said the appeal decision was a matter for the club’s board last night, but he confirmed that he and the team would meet to discuss “where we go from here” on Wednesday.
If, as expected, the punishment is enforced without protest tonight, the back-to-back title winners and European champions will face renewed scrutiny to prove they have rebalanced the books to fall within this season’s salary limits.
Saracens sent their first tranche of financial documents to auditors before the season kicked off, The Daily Telegraph understands, but chairman Nigel Wray still has “active” investments with at least one of the players involved, according to Companies House.
There are 16 categories of expenditure in which the club can make savings to fall within the salary cap rules. The club are most likely to abandon the investments rather than dramatically trim the squad. Shortly after the punishments were announced, Wray said players would not have to be sold.
However, the scandal is said to have had a devastating impact on squad morale, and players and staff will gather this week to thrash out how they plan to avoid relegation from minus-22 points.
An under-strength line-up was torn apart 30-10 by Racing 92 in the European Champions Cup yesterday, but England stars including Owen Farrell, Maro Itoje, Billy and Mako Vunipola – whose co-investment partnerships with Wray are at the heart of the scandal – are set to return in the Premiership fixture away to Bath. “They want to come back, they want to play, they want to help their team,” said Mccall. “This team has been together a long time, the relationships between the players and the staff are strong. We all care about it. Of course we are all bothered by it.
“On Wednesday we will have our first proper conversation about where we go from here.”
Saracens’ apparent U-turn is a surprise to some after Wray described the punishment on Nov 5 as “absolutely devastating”.
Mccall, who says he wishes the full judgment would come out, refused to comment on claims that Saracens had already decided to abandon any review, adding: “I probably know what we’re going to do, but I’m not going to tell you. It’s not my decision to make. I’m getting on with trying to get the best out of this group of players. It’s a legal, technical decision whether you appeal or not. You’ve got to have grounds. I’ll leave that to people much cleverer than me.”
Premiership Rugby’s investigations were thought to have centred around Wray’s involvements in companies such as Vunprop Ltd (the Vunipola brothers), Faz Investments Ltd (Farrell), Wiggy9 Ltd (Richard Wigglesworth) and MN Property Solutions Ltd (Itoje).
While the appeals process expired, the sanctions were initially suspended. The points penalty will come into immediate effect when Saracens confirm the decision, but Premiership Rugby is likely to allow more time to pay the fine.
Saracens, third in the standings on 13 points, a point behind leaders Bristol, will sit on –22 points, 26 adrift of bottom club Leicester.
An independent panel found the club had not disclosed payments to players in each of the 2016-17, 201718 and 2018-19 seasons, and had also exceeded the ceiling for payments to senior players.
The expected about-turn over an appeal is said to have been fuelled by a desire to help Mccall plan for the season. With the deduction enforced, he will continue to sacrifice team selection in Europe to ensure the club have a chance to stay afloat.