Premiership titles should be stripped for future salary breaches, says review

An independent review into Premiership Rugby’s salary cap has suggested clubs found guilty of future breaches should be stripped of titles.

Saracens have won each of the past two Premiership Finals but last year they were found to have breached the salary cap for three successive seasons.

The club were docked points, fined £5.36million and later automatically relegated from the top flight, yet their championship successes in 2018 and 2019 have not been stricken from the record.

A review led by former government minister Lord Myners and commissioned by Premiership Rugby has recommended that punishments should be even more severe in the future.

In his report, Lord Myners outlined the need for: “Greater flexibility for a disciplinary panel in relation to the range, and severity, of sanctions to ensure ‘the punishment fits the crime’, including the availability of sanctions such as suspensions and the removal of titles.”

Lord Myners said: “It is my view that a broader array of sanctions should be available in relation to breaches of the senior ceiling and failure to co-operate.

“These sanctions, especially my proposed range of sporting sanctions, should help other clubs as well as the public at large to feel that justice is both done and seen to be done.”

In response to the report, Darren Childs, Premiership Rugby’s chief executive, said: “We welcome the comprehensive set of recommendations put forward by Lord Myners following the review and we are pleased to publish his report so that everyone has an opportunity to consider his conclusions.

“In the next stage of this process, we will consult carefully with our clubs and other stakeholders as we finalise the new salary cap regulations for the long-term benefit of our sport.”

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