Mark McCall has finally broken his silence over Saracens' salary cap breaches
Mark McCall has finally broken his silence four days after Saracens were found guilty by Premiership Rugby of breaking the salary cap.
The Londoners were fined in excess of £5.3million and deducted 35 league points, a punishment they are appealing.
The salary cap revelations resulted in director of rugby McCall, along with skipper Brad Barritt, missing Wednesday’s Champions Cup launch in Cardiff, an absence their club is likely to be fined over.
However, McCall finally fronted up on Saturday prior to Saracens taking on Gloucester in the Premiership at Kingsholm. Here is what he has to say in a six-question, two-minute interview with BT Sport.
BT Sport: With Saracens found to be in breach of the salary cap, how much of this does and should fall at your door”
MARK McCALL: It has been a really challenging week. I am thrilled with how the players and staff have rallied during the week and got on with the task in hand which is all we can do. This group, in particular, have shown a lot of grit and toughness over the last few weeks and we are going to have to show that today against a full-strength Gloucester side.
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BT: Within the rugby world people are questioning how this has happened. You as the director of rugby, you put in your request for the players that you need for your campaign, those players arrive. At any time have you questioned how that has happened and whether Saracens have been breaching the salary cap?
MM: I understand why you are asking me that question. But hopefully, you understand that the club are appealing the decision and in those circumstances, it’s probably not right to add to what had already been released by the club by way of statements.
'It’s almost like with Leicester, you play them after two losses you know you are going to get a side that is going to be bang on it, and it is the same thing with Saracens'
– Johan Ackermann tells @heagneyl what Gloucester expect to face on Saturday https://t.co/QvnxlLESHl— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 8, 2019
BT: With this review pending, although nothing officially has been launched, Saracens are still subject to the 35-point deduction. Does that change your approach for the Premiership campaign and how you manage your squad through this season?
MM: In all likelihood, yes, those decisions are ones that we are considering at the moment. All of this has happened a little bit unexpectedly at the start off the week and we have got some big decisions to make in that regard.
BT: When the news broke to the players, how did they respond, how did they react?
MM: They were shocked if I am absolutely honest. But like I said at the start of the interview, they have been magnificent in terms of how they have rallied together and got on with the job at hand. I guess my job at the moment is to get on with the rugby and try to get the best out of this group, and that is what we are going to try and do.
How did it happen?
How does this impact the squad?
How did the players respond?Saracens' Director of Rugby Mark McCall addresses the salary cap breach for the first time. pic.twitter.com/CN2wTZDfLD
— Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) November 9, 2019
BT: At any point have there been discussions about the possible need to trim the size of the squad?
MM: No, there hasn’t been.
BT: What is the emotional message you are giving to the players today?
MM: As you know from down the years we have got a really tight group here and we were really encouraged that all our World Cup players were in twice last week. It was certainly an internal show of unity and today is just about the players fighting for each other and supporting each other and that is all.
WATCH: Former Saracens player Jim Hamilton discusses the salary cap scandal surrounding his former club
Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to comments