So after a few days of speculation and will they won't they Saracens have been relegated from the Premiership.
Is this a shock? Well i was personally surprised when the news broke that there was a strong possibility that the new punishment of another 35 point deduction was coming and that that would mean relegation for Saracens, but when i looked into the story with more detail i found out that they had failed a mid season audit, meaning they would be over the salary cap when the current season is finished.
The sanction was given and all clubs agreed that it was fair.
So it was confirmed yesterday that Saracens will play there rugby in the Championship next season.
This is a bold and strong stance taken by Premiership rugby, Saracens are the current Premiership and European Champions, they also a number of top internationals in the squad not to mention a large number of key England internationals.
For Premiership rugby to make give out these sanctions shows the rest of the teams in the league that breaking the salary cap will come with tough sanctions.
Owen Farrell has come forward and said that he will not be leaving the club at the end of the season, that remains to be seen as although there is no salary cap in the Championship so he could stay on the same high salary, he will take himself out of selection for the next Lions tour and will also unlikely be selected for England as Eddie Jones is not likely to select players who do not play in top tier of English rugby.
Also i would say personally that as captain he as a duty to say these things as he has to stand by the club at the moment and finish the season. I very much doubt that the top international players at Saracens will stay at the club. They are going to have to except large pay cuts and join other premiership clubs.
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