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Five Saracens players apologise after breaking social distancing rules

By PA
(Photo by Alex Davidson/Getty Images)

Five Saracens players have apologised after they were pictured breaking social distancing rules on Monday.

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Billy Vunipola, Alex Goode, Nick Isiekwe, Sean Maitland and Josh Ibuanokpe met up in St Albans, clearly flouting Government rules during the current lockdown.

The players have accepted they were in the wrong and have been reminded of their responsibilities by the Gallagher Premiership club.

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Isolation Nation | Episode 11

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      Isolation Nation | Episode 11

      “The club was very disappointed to learn about a small group of Saracens players being sighted together in St Albans Monday this week,” a Saracens statement read.

      “The Government guidelines on social distancing and public gatherings of more than two people are very clear and the club has been vigorous in its messaging to all players and staff members about the importance of adhering to these guidelines whilst in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.

      “Management has spoken to the players involved, all of whom accept that they made an error in judgement and have apologised for any upset they may have caused.

      “The club has reminded these players as well as the whole Saracens squad of their responsibilities to themselves and the community around them and we are confident that this will not happen again.”

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      Saracens have partnered up with charity Compassion London to provide 10,000 NHS staff and vulnerable people with hot meals.

      “Saracens would like to reiterate our tremendous admiration and respect for the work being undertaken by NHS and other frontline staff who are tackling this virus,” the statement added.

      “Our recent partnership with charity Compassion London where we were supporting efforts to provide hot meals for up to 10,000 NHS staff and vulnerable people in north London every day from the kitchens of our stadium, is an example of our commitment and support for these heroes.”

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      Soliloquin 1 hour ago
      Competing interests and rotated squads: What the 'player welfare summer' is really telling us

      I don’t know the financial story behind the changes that were implemented, but I guess clubs started to lose money, Mourad Boudjellal won it all with Toulon, got tired and wanted to invest in football , the French national team was at its lowest with the QF humiliation in 2015 and the FFR needed to transform the model where no French talent could thrive. Interestingly enough, the JIFF rule came in during the 2009/2010 season, so before the Toulon dynasty, but it was only 40% of the players that to be from trained in French academies. But the crops came a few years later, when they passed it at the current level of 70%.

      Again, I’m not a huge fan of under 18 players being scouted and signed. I’d rather have French clubs create sub-academies in French territories like Wallis and Futuna, New Caledonia and other places that are culturally closer to RU and geographically closer to rugby lands. Mauvaka, Moefana, Taofifenua bros, Tolofua bros, Falatea - they all came to mainland after starting their rugby adventure back home.

      They’re French, they come from economically struggling areas, and rugby can help locally, instead of lumping foreign talents.

      And even though many national teams benefit from their players training and playing in France, there are cases where they could avoid trying to get them in the French national team (Tatafu).

      In other cases, I feel less shame when the country doesn’t believe in the player like in Meafou’s case.

      And there are players that never consider switching to the French national team like Niniashvili, Merckler or even Capuozzo, who is French and doesn’t really speak Italian.

      We’ll see with Jacques Willis 🥲


      But hey, it’s nothing new to Australia and NZ with PI!

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