Relegated Saracens now on a staggering -77 points total following further Premiership Rugby sanction

Saracens have plummeted to a staggering -77 points total on the Gallagher Premiership table following further sanctions by Premiership Rugby.

The organising body of the English club league issued a statement on Tuesday evening explaining that Premiership Rugby had been in dialogue with the RFU since confirming on  January 18 that Saracens would be automatically relegated at the end of the 2019/20 season. 

Saracens had been deducted 35 points in early November following salary cap breaches in three previous seasons. They were also fined £5.36million. 

Now, a further deduction of 70 points has been imposed on the London club in the current season and the tournament’s league table has been updated to leave twelfth-place Saracens adrift on -77, well below eleventh place Leicester on twelve points. 

Premiership Rugby also stated that they had amended salary cap regulations 4.9d and 14.8 following the unanimous approval of its clubs.

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Damning report reveals the extent of the initial Saracens salary cap breaches

The 4.9d regulations now reads: “If a disciplinary panel finds that a club has exceeded the senior ceiling by £350,000 or more in a salary cap year, the salary cap manager may, at any time within twelve months of his receipt of that decision, investigate whether the club is now compliant with the regulations as follows:

"(i) without prejudice to the salary cap manager’s other powers he, or his nominee(s), shall also have the same powers as those afforded to the Investigators pursuant to regulation 4.9(c);

“(ii) the salary cap manager shall not need to satisfy the requirements of regulation 4.9(a);

“(iii) Relevant records shall mean any record, document or other information held by or under the control of the club relevant to compliance with the regulations;

“(iv) the words 'in connection with the suspected breach of the regulations or false declaration' in regulation 4.9(c) (iv) shall not apply;

“(v) the words 'for the purposes of carrying out the investigatory audit' in regulation 4.9(c)(vi) shall not apply.”

The amended 14.8 regulation now reads: “If the club does not fully co-operate in a timely manner with an investigation conducted under regulation 4.9(d), the salary cap manager may deduct 70 points from the number of league points earned by the club in respect of games played in the Gallagher Premiership with immediate effect (which may result in the club having a negative balance).

“Notwithstanding the provisions of regulation 16, PRL may publish the fact that 70 points have been deducted and the reasons why.”

The 70-point deduction rounded off another day of upheaval at Saracens as interim chief executive Edward Griffiths resigned with immediate effect just 26 days after taking on the role.  

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