Sympathises: Richard Cockerill
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Leicester director of rugby Richard Cockerill has sympathised with rivals Northampton over the possible exits of Soane Tonga'uiha and Brian Mujati.
The prop duo are rumoured to have been offered big money moves to Racing Metro, who have already secured the services of Jamie Roberts.
And following Saints boss Jim Mallinder admitting that he cannot compete with the French spending, Cockerill added his own concerns about salaries.
"The salary cap has bitten Tigers over a number of years and, if the reports are correct, Northampton are going to lose two of the props that they have brought in, developed and made world-class," Cockerill told the Leicester Mercury.
"As much as Northampton are huge rivals, I think it is wrong that they are not allowed to compete in the market place for their players.
"Tonga'uiha came from Bedford and they have made him into what he is.
"Now they cannot afford to keep him because of the salary cap. That is harsh.
"It's a financial choice. Look at Alesana Tuilagi who has gone from us to Japan for a considerable amount of money.
"We didn't even try to compete with that because he would have taken up 25 per cent of our cap.
"For someone like Geoff Parling, who is also out of contract, he has come from Newcastle and now he is starting for England.
"He will get offers bigger than ours, so it will be down to the good will of the player to say he likes playing for you, that he is really happy here trying to win something and that he will take 25 per cent less than he could get somewhere else."
Comments
5Lock4ward says...
@Johnny_Guitar, I must admit that I am hard on the Saints on this site but believe it or not they are my favorite Premiership team. It makes me very upset when the team I cheer for, USA Eagles, can't have access to someone, Manoa, who could be making a major impact on the international stage. You're correct, your team takes a beating when it comes to having to give up so many players for international duty and I give you that. I just wish their international players who come from 2nd tier rugby nations had the same chance to represent their respective countries as their English qualified ones do. And frankly as a supporter of Scotland I thought it was cheap that they didn't release Euan Murray to be part of the Lions pre-tour gathering in '09.
Posted 02:00 07th December 2012
jamesliveinhope says...
@rugby_rockstar agreed with all apart from the "for silverware" bit - Racing presently 9th.
Posted 14:49 06th December 2012
rugby_rockstar says...
not sure if northampton are achieving either. The pack is brilliant, but Myler and Lamb are holding the team back. Tonga'uiha and Mujati are laying the platform but they want silverware. if they get paid a bit extra too then thats the cherry on top. Saints have had this missing missing jigsaw peice for a few seasons now and they haven't done anything about it. Now it looks like some Forwards have run out of patience with the Backs.
Posted 13:12 06th December 2012
lawynd says...
There's nothing wrong with the current setup and salary cap, all that needs fine-tuning is the sum (and subsequent additional cap space) that clubs receive for England players from the RFU; if the RFU were to pay a percentage of a player's wages up to a specified amount instead of a fixed sum and it wasn't limited to the first five (I think) players, it would work more in favour of the English clubs.
Posted 12:27 06th December 2012
jamesliveinhope says...
Firstly, I'm not convinced that the French model is sustainable in the long term. Sugar daddies are great until they walk or run out of cash and, if you look at the football model over here, I presume that these "rich" clubs are run at a loss.
Secondly, I have felt for a little while that the Pacific Islands are to European rugby what Poland is to the UK building trade i.e. labour is as good but much cheaper and I'm sure its them (plus the SANZAR journeymen) rather than the "big stars" that are limiting opportunities for home-grown talent.
Mujati and Tonga'uiha have seen out their respective contracts in a high quality shop window. They were always going to be touted by wealth (it may well have been their plan anyway) and who's to say that they wouldn't have left regardless of the money situation. Saints are not a club renowned for loyalty in reverse (thinking of the Cohen and more recently Grayson situation). and given Cockerill's recent press outbursts regarding departing players, it doesn't sound like Tigers is a place you would want to be if your face didn't quite fit.
Posted 08:25 06th December 2012
Johnny_Guitar says...
5lock4ward what an earth is an international friendly team??? I follow Northampton Saints AND England. Our club has been around since 1885 (off the top of my head) and all we want is fairness. We've supplied loads of internationals in the past and suffered because of it, Foden, Dickson, Hartley, Wood, Lawes, Pisi, Dowson have all been away this season and we have to play crucial league games without them!! You can see why it is a bit annoying when we can't financially compete with a team that we actually have to play in the Heineken Cup!!!
Posted 07:21 06th December 2012
BackingLeinster says...
well the IRB could put a contributions scheme in place. x percent of a players wages go in to a fund and that goes back to the professional clubs that have developed them starting from the age of 15. 25 year old for instance who had played 8 years at one club then moved toanother for big money at 23 would pay in 10 % of his salary. 80% of that (8% of his overall salary) goes back to his first club.They can then afford a little more each time to try keep other players.
Posted 19:35 05th December 2012
sirtidychris says...
Both great props but neither are english qualified so not sad to see them go, may give PDJ a chance to push for england again and bring some other English youngsters through.
Posted 18:44 05th December 2012
three6three6 says...
The salary cap is in place to ensure that salaries do not spiral out of control and put clubs at risk of financial failure. Of course we are seeing imperfect competition at work here - with the example being an English based player moving to Japan with a large salary increase. The other objective of a salary cap is to ensure that the good quality (expensive) players are not all contracted to the same English club team.
Whilst suggesting that players who are capped for England whilst at a particular club should be excluded from the salary cap, would simply allow that club to spend more money on non-excluded players..... Let us say for instance that a club like Leicester continues producing international players and that in their squad thay have say 10 England international players who were first capped at Leicester. Now these players would all be allowed to continue playing for Leicester at 'high salaries' simply because they were excluded from the salary cap calculation. There would need to be a nominal reduction to the salary cap calculation otherwise the other 25 other players in the squad could be paid the total unadjusted salary cap amount between them.
A salary cap system might work across the six nations (NH) but only if the caps are broadly in line with each other between the different countries. But Japan would still be attractive to players. The reality is that rugby union is fast becoming an international sport with different regional markets competing internationally for talent. In the absence of rules to the contrary market forces will tend to prevail.
Posted 17:47 05th December 2012
5Lock4ward says...
I've got $20 that says once Tonga'uiha is free from the Saints his caps for the Tongan national team increase exponentially. Same for Mujati w/ the Boks should they come calling. If the Saints didn't crush their foreign imports' international aspirations guys might be willing to stick around. I can only hope Manoa accomplishes enough to get picked up by a more international friendly club.
Posted 17:16 05th December 2012
sirtidychris says...
Salary cap is a good thing, it allows teams with a smaller budget to compete, the french system is not sustainable and when guys like the Toulon and Metro owners leave the clubs will disappear under. Whilst everyone wants to be the best clubs must be finacially sustainable to secure their future in the long run. The SH teams operate on small budgets and the best stay beacuse players want to play for national teams (more than money), If our players want to compete at the highest level then stay with your clubs, if you dont then leave and a young gun can get his chance to develop.
Posted 15:20 05th December 2012
TVaddict says...
@bignoel
I was thinking something similar but where being an international or not doesn't matter. My idea is that if a players who have come through the academy and into the club team wouldn't count in the salary cap. This way it encourages clubs to develop more English young stars and encourages the players to have club loyalty. So Wasps wouldn't have players like Wade, Daly, Simpson and Launchbury counting on their salary cap.
Posted 14:59 05th December 2012
doyley says...
@bignoel, very good idea!
Posted 14:27 05th December 2012
bignoel says...
England players that make their international debuts for a club should be exempt from the salary cap for that club. Thus in Cockerill's example above, Parling would be able to stay at Leicester because he is exempt from the cap. Chris Ashton, however, would not be exempt from the cap for Saracens. Otherwise, there is no incentive to develop England players - quite the opposite in fact.
Posted 13:49 05th December 2012
scrumpoacher says...
Get rid of the salary cap then...
Posted 12:16 05th December 2012
TVaddict says...
I guess it is another reason why we shouldn't pick England players who play abroad, gives them more incentive to stay here.
Posted 11:53 05th December 2012