Saracens: Premiership champions rocked by 35-point deduction and £5m fine for breaking salary cap rules

The reigning champions are currently fourth in the Gallagher Premiership, with nine points, but now face a fight for survival and scrutiny over their recent success at home and abroad

Saracens have been handed an enormous 35-point deduction and fine in excess of £5m by Premiership Rugby (PRL) for breaking salary cap rules.

The reigning champions are currently fourth in the Gallagher Premiership, with nine points, but now face a fight for survival after being hit by the biggest sanction in the history of the league. Such a deduction last season would have left them third from bottom of the table.

Saracens have announced they will appeal against the “heavy-handed” sanctions imposed upon them.

The findings of a seven-month investigation by the PRL were withheld while the Rugby World Cup was ongoing so as not to disrupt the progress of the England national team, which contained nine Saracens players including the captain Owen Farrell.

Farrell, Maro Itoje and Billy and Mako Vunipola were among several players to have property-sharing arrangements with the club’s owner, Nigel Wray, as revealed by the Daily Mail earlier this year.

The club’s head of finance, Bernard van Zyl, left in September, along with fellow director Nick Leslau, who had been at the club for more than 20 years. Saracens insist there is no link between the departures and the investigation.

The salary cap rules allow for a £7m annual outlay to players as wages, along with two additional marquee players.

Saracens were hit with the maximum punishment of 35 points, reserved for breaches of the regulations greater than £600,000 over a five-year period, and a fine of £5,360,272.31.

In a statement, PRL said: “The decision is that Saracens failed to disclose payments to players in each of the seasons 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19. In addition, the Club is found to have exceeded the ceiling for payments to senior players in each of the three seasons.”

Serious questions will now be asked over the validity of Saracens’ recent triumphs. The club won four of the past five Premiership titles and three European titles in that time.