Borthwick expects his Tigers to only grow stronger following salary cap probe
Leicester head coach Steve Borthwick insists his Gallagher Premiership leaders will be galvanised by the investigation into a potential salary cap breach at Welford Road.
The club are cooperating with Premiership Rugby as it examines historic image rights payments made to players through a company called Worldwide Image Management, which was shut down in February.
Andrew Rogers, the league’s salary cap director, will look to clarify whether the payments constituted an increase in individual salaries and therefore broke regulations.
The development comes as Leicester sit eight points clear at the summit of the Premiership after winning all 10 matches, while a place in the knockout phase of the Heineken Champions Cup is also within touching distance.
Borthwick is the architect of their resurgence and while he concedes the Tigers have been poorly run in the past, he refuses to let the investigation affect the push for silverware.
“This team went from being the leading club in the country to bottom of the pile. For that to happen there has to be mismanagement on and off the field,” he told BBC Radio Leicester.
“(Chief executive) Andrea Pinchen and I came in at a very similar time in the middle of 2020. Our job has been to get this club climbing the league.
“The club is co-operating fully and Andrea will be leading it. I will be looking at matters on the pitch.
“This is something else that will be thrown at us. This will make us stronger than anyone thinks we can be. It’s another thing to try and detract from what we’re trying to do.
“Over the past 18 months we have faced things like not knowing whether players would be there, from Leicester’s local lockdown, to shutting down training due to Covid outbreaks, reshaping this squad.
“I’m sure the supporters will be disappointed about the news. This investigation is looking back years. It’s not this team and I know the fans will cheer us on.”
Leicester’s financial dealings are being examined in the season that Saracens returned to the Premiership after a year spent in the second tier of English rugby as punishment for repeated salary cap breaches.
“Leicester are aware of allegations made against the club regarding historic image rights payments,” a Tigers statement read.
“The club is co-operating with Premiership Rugby, who are looking into the historic matter, and has met with representatives from Premiership Rugby to discuss the claims.
“Leicester will make no further comment while the matter remains ongoing.”
English rugby will be hoping Leicester do not become embroiled in the type of salary cap scandal that engulfed Saracens two years ago.
The north London club were deducted a total of 105 points to ensure their relegation for the 2020-21 campaign and fined £5.36million.
Rogers found that they exceeded the salary cap by in excess of £2million across the 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons through the use of contributions to property co-investments with players, image rights deals and hospitality payments.
The investigation found that some of the 2018-19 overspend was based on the valuation of the image rights payment to a player.
Comments on RugbyPass
Minicamp rules include no-pads and no tackling.
1 Go to commentsToulouse has enough quality players so no headaches 😁 Choco is rarely a starting centre. Throughout this championship there have been far worse actions that were never called… too many rules, too many rule changes, too many inconsistencies, too many angry fans. I'm not surprised rugby does not attract new spectators, how could they understand 🤣
6 Go to commentsAh yes Andy with his “Goode” views. Oke might as well come out and say it, “I like seeing South African scrums depowered in order to give the rest of the world a chance”. Somehow he thinks World Rugby always knew about calling scrums from marks and it just so happened to coincide with Damien Willemse’s call that they decided to change the rules. Ah come on, if he can't see it then he needs prescription glasses. No ways, they are doing this for the betterment of Rugby. They want to clamp down on Rassie’s innovative skills than encouraging coaches to think outside of the box to try new things. What they can't count on is what Rassie will plan next. I almost get the impression that once Rassie retires World Rugby is going to be scrabbling around trying to find their identity. Currently set at ARP (Anti-Rassie Party). Although I don't really care in that regard because they always a RWC step behind.
7 Go to commentsWow ten years since they had a backing and more from the paying public I’d also mention that as a blues man and in walking distance to the garden I’d say that this team and Vern Cotter have got us dreaming beautiful thoughts and the merit is there from numbers 1 to 23 but we would like to think this is the new dna for the ABs and a pack weighing 940kg dry y not I hasten to add it seems patty has to stay fit cause he is the driver the main driver and they follow plus the pipe man H Plummer is conducting his own orchestra ….. Beethoven anybody
1 Go to commentsJuicy stuff well covered I’d go as far as to say that the referee was a key component in keeping it a tasty spectacle
1 Go to commentsCotter has added that steel that has been missing. Let's see if it will carry until the Finals… Come on the Blues ….
2 Go to commentsAndy Goode just loves to be controversial. Its boring. Let’s all stop reading.
7 Go to commentsYou have got to consider that if the situation was flipped and the French were held to a salary cap with no English equivalent, the English would laugh in their faces and tell them to get over it. As for Leinster (as a fan), the central contract system is a dream but is guilty of cutting out the other 3 provinces. At the end of the day, it comes across outside of the English border that the Premiership is drowning and trying to take everyone else with it rather than adapt. The English lose, the English want new rules. We've seen this repeat (and once it even led to the current Champions Cup) You make many good and informed points, but if the flip was on the other flop, it wouldn't be Rugby’s problem I suspect - it would be a French one.
17 Go to commentsSeems to have been a bright start but it tailed off. To win the big matches you have to get used to putting your foot on the throttle and your opponent’s necks in an 80 minutes performance which is what the All Blacks were renowned for. An example in the Women’s game is England v Ireland in the 6N match played at Twickenham in April. Watch on YouTube.
1 Go to commentsBobby has been a first grade bonehead since high school. Like a true Cape Tonian, his own reflection is more important than anything else.
1 Go to commentsNo comment on the textbook red card for Ramm that was just ignored? Amazing that
4 Go to commentsThese rule changes have been implemented with good intentions, but much like every other rule change focus on isolated symptoms instead of the root cause. If you cannot croc roll, and cannot risk any head contact with a front on clear out, it is not clear how you are supposed to lawfully clear someone out who is attempting a jackal. This will backfire massively and lead to substantially more kicking. Teams will simply not want to take the ball into contact. Or it will lead to even more dangerous methods to clear players out who are over the ball. I much prefer having the set piece on a 30 second shot clock over no scrum on a short arm infringement. Resets are not a problem in themselves, but 90 second water and tactics breaks before every scrum are a big problem. Trainers constantly coming on to the field to help players pull their socks up and delaying the game are a problem. DuPont law was a blight on the game and should have been changed the day after it was first implemented.
79 Go to commentsAh yes, the opinion of Andy Goode… Andy Goode, the man who knows what some of the Irish players said to Eben Etzebeth after the QF, better than what Eben himself knows. And, judging by this piece, the Grandmaster of clichés.
7 Go to commentsI think this is a fair view. As a South African I am concerned about the depowering of the scrum but let’s be honest, until the SA vs FRA quarter many people didn’t even know you could take a scrum from a free kick. As you say it’s going to come down to interpretation… until then we don’t really know how this is going to impact the game. That would lead to my own objection. Do the unknowns of changing a law outweigh the cons of said law. With such an obscure law that most people had never heard of, one that had never really had an impact on the game in the first place is it worth changing to invite so much uncertainty. Better the devil you know then the devil you don’t as it were…
7 Go to comments162 comments so far and counting. i didn't realize that rugby fans are on the way to join the football brothers. what is the point to share personal opinion only to get all this shi*? it seems IRB bosses are doing the great job by killing the spirit of the game both on and outside the pitch. too sad, indeed. btw, was there anything on eben’s point of view from the boys in green, who he mentioned?
164 Go to commentsJob done guys. Great win in a game where things can quickly go wrong.
1 Go to commentsAlex Sanderson fantastic coach and person .So pleased he has signed another contract great days ahead for Sale under his leadership.
1 Go to commentsAndy Goode cant kick to 12
164 Go to commentsDoxed himself. Great work Johnny. You are well suited to the Saders
1 Go to comments_Best game players _
2 Go to comments