Gerry Thornley: Saracens very late to apologise for repeated cheating

Spare a thought for Glasgow. In the heel of the hunt, the Scottish team missed out on the quarter-finals of the Heineken Champions Cup to a club who, we now all know, cheated to qualify for the tournament in the first place.

True, there is no salary cap in Europe, but Saracens were breaking the Premiership rules when they won the Champions Cup in 2016-17 by beating Clermont 28-17 in the Murrayfield final.

What’s more Saracens’ performance in the Premiership that season, when reaching the semi-finals, earned them a tier two seeding in the draw for the 2017-18 Champions Cup in a pool with Clermont, Northampton and the Ospreys from which they qualified for the knock-out stages.

Saracens were breaking the salary cap again in that 2017-18 season, when they finished second behind Exeter in the Premiership but beat them in the final. This in turn earned them a top tier seeding in the draw for last season’s tournament, when they won six from six in a pool featuring Glasgow, Cardiff and Lyon to earn a top seeding for the knock-out stages and went on to beat Leinster in the final.

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But it's Exeter who have suffered the most from Saracens' cheating, having lost three finals too them. Exeter's CEO Tony Rowe has called for them to be stripped of their titles and, if the Tour de France can strip a drug cheat, Lance Armstrong, of his titles one wonders why Premiership Rugby cannot do the same.

Certainly Saracens’ impending relegation to the Championship next season will be of scant consolation to Exeter, who abided by the salary cap of £7 million plus two marquee players but were beaten in finals by a club who did not.

Clermont have also written to the Champions Cup organisers ECPR (European Club Professional Rugby) demanding that Saracens be stripped of their title in 2017 and the trophy be awarded to them.

It’s a long shot, but no doubt Leinster will be watching that one with interest!

People's livelihoods will be affected, both playing and non-playing staff. But they preferred that scenario to an independent audit!

As an aside, swelled by half a dozen or so central contracts with the IRFU, who also contributed toward another 28 of their 45-man squad, Leinster probably have a playing budget not far off €10 million.

Nor, should we forget, Saracens have effectively admitted they have been cheating again this season. Faced with a choice of relegation or having their financial accounts rigorously audited by both the PRL and independent auditors, they took the former option.

That is quite an extraordinary state of affairs, and one can only assume they had something to hide; that their breaches of the salary cap have been even greater than the mooted £2 million which has been reported.

Independent audit

After all, the consequences of relegation are immense. They simply will not be able to retain their squad. They have eight British & Irish Lions on their books but other clubs, not least as they adhere to the salary cap, will not be able to afford them. They will face a huge hit financially. People’s livelihoods will be affected, both playing and non-playing staff. But they preferred that scenario to an independent audit!

This compounds the lack of clarity behind the whole saga, as the original report by an independent Sports Resolutions disputes service was never published.

Accepting relegation last weekend rather than have their books audited is quite a far cry from the club's initial reaction to the punishment meted out last November. Their then chairman Nigel Wray, who has since stepped down, expressed his shock and disappointment, and vowed to appeal.

It was only over the weekend that Saracens, very belatedly, showed contrition through a statement by their newly appointed club chairman Neil Goldlng. He acknowledged the club had made errors in the past "and we unreservedly apologise for those mistakes".

Actually qualifying from a group featuring Racing and Munster has to be considered one of this squad's finest achievements

After reflecting overnight, on Sunday morning the club’s board issued another statement also stating they “unreservedly apologise for the mistakes made”.

Their acceptance of relegation, according to the board, followed “open and frank discussions with PRL” but little about this whole process has been open and frank.

Meantime, on the pitch, actually qualifying from a group featuring Racing and Munster has to be considered one of this squad’s finest achievements.

“By hook or by crook we’ve given ourselves half a chance in the competition,” Mark McCall said before the Racing game. Indeed. It was a rather unfortunate choice of words but you have some sympathy for McCall and one can only commend his intention to stay loyal to the club.

McCall and the players cannot be blamed. All players and their agents seek to get the best deal possible. No players in their position would have rejected the chance to play with such a big club nor turn down lucrative contracts to remain with them.

Huge performance

Some Saracens fans questioned the timing of the club’s relegation on the weekend they faced their win-or-bust tie with Racing, as if done deliberately to unhinge their preparations. But if anything it probably helped galvanise them further, before the implications had time to sink in.

As things stand, this quarter-final is Saracens' only remaining competitive match this season

You always felt that being pinned into a corner would induce a huge performance from Owen Farrell and his teammates. Throughout much of the last decade they've developed a siege mentality at the best of times which has served them well and so it continued as they qualified for the knock-out stages for the ninth season in a row.

So it is that Leinster, having won all six pool matches for a fourth time and reached their highest-ever match points total of 28, are ‘rewarded’ with a meeting against the discredited back-to-back champions.

As things stand, this quarter-final is Saracens’ only remaining competitive match this season and it’s their last shot at Europe for at least another three seasons. Grist to the mill for their “no-one likes us but we don’t care” mentality.

And it’s never been truer.

gthornley@iristhimes.com