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Saracens issue statement regarding their Barbarians players
By Ian Cameron
Saracens have issued their contingent of players involved with the Barbarians cancellation fiasco with a verbal tongue lashing.
The England Barbarians game set for Sunday had to be cancelled after a large cohort of players - including former England captain Chris Robshaw - breached their pre-agreed hotel bubble to visit a restaurant in the lead up to the game.
A number of Saracens players were among the ranks of the offenders in question.
Richard Wigglesworth, issued the following message: “Embarrassed and beyond gutted to have let Vern Cotter and the Barbarians down as well as the RFU. Should not have happened and for that I am truly sorry. I’ve let a lot of people down including myself and wish I’d done it differently. Sorry again.”
Wigglesworth’s Saracens teammate Jackson Wray has also apologised, saying that he is “devastated” the match is cancelled. Sarries' Scotland winger Sean Maitland was also involved in the outing in question.
Saracens have also issued a statement: "Saracens is extremely disappointed to learn that some of its players breached the agreed Covid code of conduct protocol whilst on Barbarians duty.
"Although not on club duty whilst with the Barbarians, these players have fallen well short of the high professional standards that are expected at Saracens. Representing the invitational side is a privilege which they have now missed out on due to their poor judgement.
"Management has spoken to the players involved about their responsibilities of representing Saracens away from the club and the impact that these actions have on everyone associated with the club. We are thinking particularly of our loyal supporters who have been magnificent in recent months and would have been looking forward to watching an extremely strong Saracens contingent at Twickenham on Sunday.
"All in question have apologised for their actions.
"The club will be making no further comment."
CEO of the Rugby Football Union Bill Sweeney shared this on Friday afternoon: “There has been a great deal of effort put into Covid codes of conduct and planning for games, including cooperation with Premiership clubs to release additional players to fulfil the fixture safely.
"We are all incredibly frustrated and disappointed that the actions of a number of Barbarians players mean we no longer feel it is safe for the game to go ahead."
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Hi Nick. Thanks for your +++ ongoing analysis. Re Vunivalu, He’s been benched recently and it will be interesting to see what Kiss does with him as we enter the backend of SRP. I’m still not sold.
Go to commentsIn the fine tradition of Irish rugby, Leinster cheat well and for some reason only known to whoever referees them, they are allowed to get away with it every single game. If teams have not got the physicality up front to stop them getting the ball, they will win every single game. They take out players beyond the ruck and often hold them on the ground. Those that are beyond the ruck and therefore offside, hover there to cause distraction but also to join the next ruck from the side thereby stopping the jackal. The lineout prior to the second try on Saturday. 3 Leinster players left the lineout before the ball was thrown and were driving the maul as soon as the player hit the ground and thereby getting that valuable momentum. They scrummage illegally, with the looshead turning in to stop the opposing tighthead from pushing straight and making it uncomfortable for the hooker. The tighthead takes a step and tries to get his opposite loosehead to drop the bind. Flankers often ‘move up’ and actually bind on the prop and not remain bound to the second row. It does cause chaos and is done quickly and efficiently so that referees are blinded by the illegal tactics. I am surprised opposition coaches when they meet referees before games don’t mention it. I am also surprised that they do not go to the referees group and ask them to look at the tactics used and referee them properly. If they are the better team and win, fair play but a lot of their momentum is gained illegally and therefore it is not a level playing field.
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