Saracens docked 35 points

[Neils]

Is it not the three years since the last transgression?

[Rifleman Harris]

Good point. I think it may be.

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[MattWasp]

Telegraph reporting that clubs will consider withdrawing from Sarries fixtures if they insist on review.  That would seem reasonable were Sarries to insist on fielding cap-busting players - inadvertently or otherwise.

[NellyWellyWaspy]

On the Radio 4 Today program this morning, the Beeb's story was very pro-Saracens, saying how an accidental mistake was being very harshly punished.

[Rifleman Harris]

On the Radio 4 Today program this morning, the Beeb's story was very pro-Saracens, saying how an accidental mistake was being very harshly punished.

Radio 5 was similar until they got another contributer (they had had Bracken saying how unfair it was). This guy carpeted Sarries saying that they should count themselves lucky as they are unlikely to be relegated, may even make it into Europe anyway and £5m is nothing as a fine. After that they started to refer to Rowe too, but by 8:30 it had pretty much disappeared from the sports headlines.

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[Silent Bob]

Radio 5 lives so called sports news presenters are not the best informed on anything that is not football.
Early doors today I did not get the sense they were being overly sympathetic to Sarries - in fact the only soundbites being played were by Tony Rowe.

[JF]

I keep reading this "admin one-off accident" argumemt.

One occurrence is an accident. Repeated occurrences looks very much like a pattern.

[BG]

Telegraph reporting that clubs will consider withdrawing from Sarries fixtures if they insist on review.  That would seem reasonable were Sarries to insist on fielding cap-busting players - inadvertently or otherwise.

I can't see that would be allowed under the PRL agreement/rules... oh.. er... let me think

[Rifleman Harris]

Radio 5 lives so called sports news presenters are not the best informed on anything that is not football.
Early doors today I did not get the sense they were being overly sympathetic to Sarries - in fact the only soundbites being played were by Tony Rowe.

I agree.. In fact I think their most knowledgeable rugby person may be Rachael Burden presenting the Breakfast Show. I feel sometimes she holds back so as not to embarrass the sports correspondent.

I dip in and out during the morning, around dog walks and getting the girls off to school. I clearly got a different impression from the bits I caught! I think that is quite interesting in itself.

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[backdoc]

On the Radio 4 Today program this morning, the Beeb's story was very pro-Saracens, saying how an accidental mistake was being very harshly punished.

Radio 5 was similar until they got another contributer (they had had Bracken saying how unfair it was). This guy carpeted Sarries saying that they should count themselves lucky as they are unlikely to be relegated, may even make it into Europe anyway and £5m is nothing as a fine. After that they started to refer to Rowe too, but by 8:30 it had pretty much disappeared from the sports headlines.

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That was Bracken the ex-player rather than Bracken the lawyer then!

[MarleyWasp]

David Conn in the Guardian has calculated that they are £1.78m over the cap, so if they do need to reduce by £900k it will just be a start.

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£1.78m over the cap combined over 3 seasons suggests an annual overspend of around £600k. To cut this season's wage bill by £600k would effectively mean releasing £900k of talent as the Salary Cap year starts in July and we're now a third of the way through the year. When you add in paying up contracts, you could be talking as much as £1.5m of talent leaving Saracens in the next few weeks.

If the review dragged on until February, they'll have to let even more go or accept another points deduction (30 by my calculations) next season and a fine of £1.78m...

[MarleyWasp]

Pages 28 and 33 of the Salary Cap Regulations (viewable here https://d2cx26qpfwuhvu.cloudfront.net/premier/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/16173132/Salary-Cap-Regulations-2019-20-Board-Approved-Feb-2019.pdf detail the sliding scale of fines and points deductions. Having found Saracens guilty of a combined overspend of £1.78m, the size of the fine and points deduction should come as no surprise. Premiership Rugby are just applying the regulations as stated. For these regulations to be adopted, all 13 PRL had to unanimously agree the regulations.

I do not see how it can be seen as a surprise.

[Westy68]

I like the idea that it Sarries insist on a 'review' team will boycott games. I'm pretty sure that when the investigation was put in place Sarries said if found guilty will take it on the chin, obviously I miss read that or Sarries are full of it, again

[RBB]

I don't think they will openly propose to release anyone, regardless of the outcome of the appeal. They may end up proposing a scenario where they have some players who are excluded from the the GP squad and only play in Europe, I can't see it being accepted but suspect it will be a move they put forward.

There will be some players who are out of contract at the end of the season, who may be released early if a destination is found, don't know enough about who they might be. ED is an odd one, he hasn't played yet and to be honest I don't think they actually need him, so depending on what he has signed up to then he may find himself caught up in all of this as his contract may be one of the more creative ones, given that he moved for a sandwich and the glory of playing for Saracens ;-)

Liam Williams looks to be heading back to Wales, so he may be released early and Joel Kpoku is rumoured to be heading to Saints ,however his salary will be tiny compared to some of the EA Galacticos and hardly make a dent in the suggested £900k gap.

There does appear to be a lot of moving parts to consider, I am sure the EAs have a plan as they will have known about this for some time, my biggest fear is that they appeal and PRL reduces the points penalty as a soft option and a way of keeping the noise down.

[Rifleman Harris]

David Conn in the Guardian has calculated that they are £1.78m over the cap, so if they do need to reduce by £900k it will just be a start.

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£1.78m over the cap combined over 3 seasons suggests an annual overspend of around £600k. To cut this season's wage bill by £600k would effectively mean releasing £900k of talent as the Salary Cap year starts in July and we're now a third of the way through the year. When you add in paying up contracts, you could be talking as much as £1.5m of talent leaving Saracens in the next few weeks.

If the review dragged on until February, they'll have to let even more go or accept another points deduction (30 by my calculations) next season and a fine of £1.78m...

I missed the 3 years bit and the fact that it was a combined exceedance. Still, to misquote Monty Python; "They are still witches, burn them"