Saracens ‘shocked and disappointed’ by sanctions

Saracens have released a statement saying they are “shocked and disappointed” by the punishment handed down to them on Tuesday.

The club was fined £5,360,272.31 and deducted a total of 35 league points by an independent disciplinary panel for breaching the salary cap in recent seasons.

Should the heavyweight club’s appeal review be unsuccessful, that would leave Saracens situated near to the foot of the Premiership table and they have promptly issued the following statement in response to the decision.

“Saracens Rugby Club is shocked and disappointed by these heavy-handed sanctions and will launch an appeal against all the disciplinary panel’s findings,” it read.

“The club is pleased the Panel acknowledged it did not deliberately attempt to breach the salary cap and steadfastly maintains that player co-investments do not constitute salary under the regulations. This view is supported by independent legal and professional experts.

“The club will continue to vigorously defend this position especially as PRL precedent already exists whereby co-investments have not been deemed part of salary in the regulations.”

Saracens’ statement continued: “As previously stated, the club made administrative errors relating to the non-disclosure of some transactions to PRL and for this we apologise. We are pleased to confirm we now have a robust governance framework in place and this will be overseen by an external counsel to ensure the Club follows best practice.

“Furthermore, it is the club’s belief that the Panel’s narrow interpretation of the regulations is detrimental to player welfare across the league and is damaging the development of elite level rugby in the UK.

“Saracens is proud of its pioneering, innovative approach to player welfare, developing their talents and supporting their entrepreneurial spirit for life beyond rugby.”

[jwplayer VRIJfPQK-KtOROyIZ]