Goode: Saracens have begun the rebuild but it's anything but a fresh start under Griffiths
OPINION: Saracens have begun the process of rebuilding and attempting to finally comply with the salary cap regulations but, with Ed Griffiths at the helm, it is anything but a fresh start.
He was at the club for seven years between 2008 and 2015 and left only a year before they officially first breached the salary cap in 2016/17. While he may be popular with some of the players from his first spell, he is far from universally liked by those at other clubs and leading figures within the game.
You can see the logic behind his appointment because he knows the club inside out and can hit the ground running at a time when it’s in crisis but I won’t be the only one wondering whether it’s also a way of sticking two fingers up at Premiership Rugby and the other clubs.
Griffiths may have exited stage left almost five years ago but he was reportedly heavily involved with starting the ball rolling on persuading players to leave their agents and deal directly with him.
It’s easy to be liked by players when you’re paying them more money as he was in his first spell at the club but he may not be quite so popular this time around.
Griffiths also left Worcester just weeks into the 2017/18 season, having been there for eight months or so as a consultant, leaving plenty of curiosity around the timing of his exit. It transpired he had led a consortium in a bid to buy the club.
BREAKING:
The fallout continues at Saracens. https://t.co/0kHRawMwAL
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 8, 2020
Although not registered as a licensed RFU player agent, Griffiths has worked for sports agents ASM in the past. If he had represented rugby players in club dealings, it is unlikely to have pleased the governing body.
In any event, there won’t be too much love lost between the RFU and the new CEO, who openly criticised them in 2010, suggesting they ran the game like a ‘rural prep school’.
Mark McCall has said the players need to “see that any player is treated as well as you can treat them in these situations” and I’m sure he will make sure that is the case on the rugby side of things but that may be difficult at board level.
Surely appointing a completely fresh face as chief executive, who has had no prior experience with the club, would have made a bigger statement to the outside world that real change is coming.
In terms of the finer details of what Saracens are doing and which players will be leaving, it looks like Liam Williams, Michael Rhodes and Juan Figallo will be the first to move on as they are all yet to feature in the Premiership this season so their salaries won’t have to count against the cap.
If anyone is paid off, though, that does have to be included and if players have already played in the league, Saracens will need other clubs to take on those players’ wages if they’re moving them on which puts those other clubs in a very strong negotiating position.
It seems offloading a few players who are yet to feature in the Premiership won’t be enough, however high-profile they are, and the picture may be a lot worse than the one that has been painted thus far.
From what I’ve heard, there was a recommendation that the points deduction for Saracens should be as much as 70 points because of the scale of the breaches but all the clubs signed up to a maximum sanction of a 35-point deduction so that was rightly imposed.
Clearly, a 70-point deduction would have meant relegation, whereas most people expect Saracens to survive that fate with only 35 points to make up given the quality of their squad.
If, as seems likely, players need to take pay cuts in addition to the few players who depart, it may be difficult for the wider public to just accept that has been the case given everything that has gone before so perception is definitely something they’ll have to address.
I was asked to take a pay cut at Brive in completely different circumstances, as were other players, and nobody did. I just don’t see why the Saracens players or anyone in any walk of life would agree to that when they’ve signed a contract in good faith.
EXCLUSIVE
New Saracens CEO Edward Griffiths tells @chrisjonespress that the club want to set right their finances ahead of deadlinehttps://t.co/vFGj6rE42F
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 6, 2020
Saracens’ values of honesty, discipline, work rate and humility have obviously been called into question of late and there have to be major doubts as to whether Griffiths is the right man to get them back on the straight and narrow.
His initial soundbites have been good in so far as he has apologised and acknowledged what needs to be done to get the club compliant again but it’s tough to ride in on a white horse and play the saviour when there’s certainly some baggage strapped to the saddle from before.
He’s got a job to do and only time will tell how effective he is at doing it but, given his prior involvement, to dress this up as a “fresh start” as Saracens did in their statement when Nigel Wray stepped down is definitely stretching credibility.
Comments on RugbyPass
Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause
8 Go to commentsNo way. If you are trying to picture New Zealand rugby with an All Blacks mindset, there have been two factors instrumental to the decline of NZ rugby to date. Those are the horror that the Blues have become and, probably more so, the fixture that the Crusaders became. I don’t think it was healthy to have one team so dominant for so long, both for lack of proper representation of players from outside that environment and on the over reliance on players from within it. If you are another international side, like Ireland for example, sure. You can copy paste something succinct from one level to the next and experience a huge increase in standards, but ultimately you will not be maximizing it, which is what you need to perform to the level the ABs do. Added to that is the apathy that develops in the whole game as a result of one sides dominance. NZ, Super, and Championship rugby should all experience a boom as a result of things balancing out. That said, there is a lot of bad news happening in NZ rugby recently, and I’m not sure the game can be handled well enough here to postpone the always-there feeling of inevitable decline of rugby.
8 Go to commentsNo SA supporter miss Super Rugby - a product that is experiencing significant head wind in ANZ - the competition from rival codes are intense, match attendance figures are at a historical low and the negativity of commentators such as Kirwan and Wilson have accelerated the downward spiral in NZ. After the next RWC in 2027 sponsors will follow Qantas and start leaving in droves.
2 Go to commentsLike others, I am not seeing the connection between this edition of the Crusaders and the All Blacks future prospects under Razor. I think the analysis of the Crusaders attack recently is helpful because Razor and his coaching team used to be able to slot new guys in to their systems and see them succeed. Several of Razor’s coaches are still there so it would be surprising if the current attack and set piece has been overhauled to a great extent - but based on that analysis, it may have been. Whether it is too many new guys due to injuries or retirement or a failure of current Crusaders systems is the main question to be answered imo. It doesn’t seem relevant for the ABs.
8 Go to commentsharry potter is set in stone. he creates stability and finishes well. exactly what schmidt likes. he’s the ben smith of australian rugby. i think it could quite easily be potter toole and kellaway for the foreseeable future.
5 Go to commentsThis is short sighted from Clayton if you ask me, smacks of too much preseason planning and no adaptability. What if DMac is out for a must win match, are they still only going to bring their best first five and playmaker on late in the game? Trusting the game to someone who wasn’t even part of planning (they would have had Trask pinned in as Jacomb preseason). Perhaps if the Crusaders were better they would not have done this, but either way imo you take this opportunity to play a guy you might need starting in a final rather than having their 12th game getting comfortable coming off the bench.
1 Go to commentsThanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.
21 Go to commentsWhat a load of bollocks. The author has forgotten to mention the fact that the Crusaders have a huge injury toll with top world class players out. Not to mention the fact that they are obviously in a transition period. No this will not spark a slow death for NZ rugby, but it does mean there will be a new Super Rugby champion. Anyone who knows anything about NZ rugby knows that there is some serious talent here, it just isn’t all at the Crusaders.
8 Go to commentsI wouldn’t spend the time on Nawaqanitawase! No point in having him filling in a jersey when he’s committed to leave Union. Give the jersey to a young prospect who will be here in the future.
5 Go to commentsIt was a pleasure to watch those guys playing with such confidence. That trio can all be infuriating for different reasons and I can see why Jones might have decided against them. No way to justify leaving Ikitau out though. Jorgensen and him were both scheduled to return at the same time. Only one of them plays for Randwick and has a dad who is great mates with the national coach though.
53 Go to commentsBrayden Iose and Peter Lakai are very exciting Super Rugby players but are too short and too light to ever be a Test 8 vs South Africa, France, Ireland, and England, Lakai could potentially be a Test player at 7 if he is allowed to focus on 7 for Hurricanes.
7 Go to commentsPencils “Thomas du Toit” into possible 2027 Bok squad.
1 Go to commentsDon’t see why Harrison makes the bench. Jones can play at 10 if needed, and there is a good case for starting her there to begin with if testing combinations. That would leave room for Sing on the bench
1 Go to commentsWhat a load of old bull!
1 Go to commentsOf the rugby I’ve born witness to in my lifetime - 1990 to date - I recognize great players throughout those years. But I have no doubt the game and the players are on average better today. So I doubt going back further is going to prove me wrong. The technical components of the game, set pieces, scrums, kicks, kicks at goal. And in general tactics employed are far more efficient, accurate and polished. Professional athletes that have invested countless hours on being accurate. There is one nation though that may be fairly competitive in any era - and that for me is the all blacks. And New Zealand players in general. NZ produces startling athletes who have fantastic ball skills. And then the odd phenomenon like Brooke. Lomu. Mcaw. Carter. Better than comparing players and teams across eras - I’ve often had this thought - that it would be very interesting to have a version of the game that is closer to its original form. What would the game look like today if the rules were rolled back. Not rules that promote safety obviously - but rules like: - a try being worth 1 point and conversion 2 points. Hence the term “try”. Earning a try at goals. Would we see more attacking play? - no lifting in the lineouts. - rucks and break down laws in general. They looked like wrestling matches in bygone eras. I wonder what a game applying 1995 rules would look like with modern players. It may be a daft exercise, but it would make for an interesting spectacle celebrating “purer” forms of the game that roll back the rules dramatically by a few versions. Would we come to learn that some of the rules/combinations of the rules we see today have actually made the game less attractive? I’d love to see an exhibition match like that.
29 Go to commentsIrish Rugby CEO be texting Andy Farrell “Andy, i found our next Kiwi Irishman”
5 Go to commentsI certainly don’t miss drinking beers at 8am in the morning watching rugby games being played in NZ.
2 Go to commentsThis looks like a damage limitation exercise for Wales, keeping back some of their more effective players for the last 20/25 minutes to try and counter England’s fresh legs so the Red Roses don’t rack up a big score.
2 Go to commentsVery unlikely the Bulls will beat Leinster in Dublin. It would be different in Pretoria.
1 Go to commentsI think it is a dangerous path to go down to ban a player for the same period that a player they injured takes to recover. Players would be afraid to tackle anyone. I once tackled my best friend at school in a practice match and sprained his ankle. I paid for it by having to play fly-half instead of full-back for the rest of that season’s fixtures.
5 Go to comments