The unprecedented amount of rugby set to be played in the next 12 months is going to take a huge physical toll on playersThe fixtures for the Premiership’s restart give better clarity to the shape of the rugby calendar for the foreseeable future. We may not know who England will be playing in the autumn yet - and there is always the threat of a Covid-19 spike - but a second wave notwithstanding, the next year will bring a glut of top-level rugby.Restarting in mid-August will mean almost exactly 12 months of non-stop rugby. Great for fans, clubs and unions who have been so badly hit financially. Good for the sponsors, all kinds of stakeholders and for the players, who...
The affair has shown the regulations are ineffective as a deterrent and clubs stoke their own inflationary pressuresThe end of an era was how Mark McCall described Saracens’ relegation to the Championship but will it also mark the end of a way of life? Will a club that has in the last 10 years based its squad around a core of English players it has either produced or signed young look to recruit from outside and minimise the financial impact of a player quickly going from a paltry wage to a substantial one after being capped by England?Two months after protesting they had not breached the Premiership’s salary cap regulations and would appeal against the fine and loss of points,...
Nervy win over Racing 92 took champions into quarter-finals but Allianz Park atmosphere was darkened by off-field troublesA quarter of a century ago, when Nigel Wray began investing in Saracens, the club played on a public recreation ground in the north London suburbs and before matches the mess from dogs that had been walked on the pitch during the week had to be cleared up. The European champions now play on a swish plastic pitch in Barnet but the whiff from the biggest scandal in English rugby history has engulfed the club.Wray has now gone, although the benefactor was in the stand at Allianz Park on Sunday behind a pair of dark glasses that could have been a disguise but...
Youth will be added for the Six Nations to a core group distracted by impending relegation at their clubEddie Jones names his England squad for the Six Nations on Monday and at least he does not have to fret about some of his Saracens contingent being torn between playing for their country and helping their club avoid relegation. It was a concern of his when the club’s 35-point deduction for breaching the Premiership’s salary cap regulations was activated two months ago but he now faces something equally unsettling. Related: Saracens to accept second 35-point deduction and effective relegation Related: Latest twist in Saracens salary cap scandal threatens a descent into pure farce | Robert Kitson Continue reading...
The Saracens salary cap scandal has already deeply damaged the domestic league - but it now appears the worst is yet to come for the club, its players, and the game as a wholeWhat a mess. Not only for Saracens, currently neck-deep in a reputational slurry pit of their own making, but for everyone involved. And, talking to those at the heart of the onrushing scandal, there remains plenty more to come. Ordeur, ordeur! Saracens playing in the Championship next season is barely the half of it.Consider, for example, the collateral damage that has already been done to English league rugby. Now triple it. If Saracens really have been operating over the salary cap this season by as much as...