Are Saracens harshly treated for retaining their own or too cavalier in their recruitment?
There is nothing like social media to polarise debate and bring out extreme arguments without nuance. The salary cap scandal at Saracens is no different.
At one end of the spectrum, you have those who are extremely critical of the club and cite their spending on big-name signings as the reason for their success. At the other you have those who would defend the club, insisting they were simply re-signing the talents they had developed from their own pathway.
As ever, the answer probably lies somewhere in the middle and the two arguments aren’t necessarily exclusive.
Back in August, RugbyPass looked at the percentage of Gallagher Premiership squads that were homegrown. With an impressive 57.9 per cent of their professional squad having come through the club’s junior academy, Saracens were the number one ranked side in the competition. In addition to that, their total of 48 academy graduates in the entire competition was second only to Leicester Tigers’ mark of 50.
This is not to excuse Saracens’ actions in relation to the salary cap, as ensuring competitiveness across the board is one of the main aims of a cap. It is a dilemma confronted by most successful teams in a salary-capped league – is this player so invaluable that we must retain him or is he not as vital and therefore can be released?
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Saracens didn’t engage with this puzzle as frequently as they should have, but their approach does add credence to the argument that the club were merely extending deals of the players they had developed and that the productivity of their academy and player pathway shouldn’t be a cause for punishment.
That said, were it not for extravagant senior recruitment the homegrown talent could have been retained without breaking the cap. If you look at Saracens’ intake of senior players during the three seasons they were found guilty of breaking the cap, there is no shortage of recruited talent.
In that first season, Vincent Koch and Schalk Burger arrived from South Africa, Scotland international Sean Maitland made the move south and Alex Lozowski upped sticks from Wasps. The following year Liam Williams, Christopher Tolofua and Will Skelton all arrived before a much quieter summer in 2018.
Finally, Elliot Daly and former academy product Jack Singleton both signed with the club in 2019. Of course, there were significant outgoings which mitigate that list, although seemingly not so significant as to have created the cap room for the new arrivals and the improved terms that the club’s own homegrown contingent had earned.
Just as the two arguments around the club’s breaches of the cap aren’t exclusive of one another, neither is the influence that the senior recruitment has had on the club’s productivity at the academy level.
Saracens are among the very best in the world at producing talented young players and integrating them into senior rugby. Integrating them into a star-studded senior side that is winning and can regularly be rotated with little drop in quality or results is far more preferable to throwing them in at the deep end in a team that is struggling.
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
If that logic holds weight, then it arguably diminishes the success their academy has had over the last four years, as those prospects have been put into a positive situation that other clubs have not been able to legally replicate.
With interim CEO Edward Griffiths admitting that players will need to be released and/or accept reduced financial terms if the club are to be within guidelines for this season, there is an intriguing period on the horizon as to whether or not the club can maintain their recent standards in their academy.
The club’s academy isn’t just productive in terms of quantity, it also pumps out quality players, many of whom, such as Ben Earl or Nick Isiekwe, are involved with England almost as soon as they are involved with the Saracens first team.
With the squad set to be reduced in size and/or players of a lower quality targeted in the future, can the club keep up this production line of homegrown talent?
If, as a rugby fan, you can draw a line under Saracens’ salary cap breaches and accept that the 35-point deduction and £5.4million fine was sufficient, then this is a particularly interesting time in the club’s history for all neutral observers.
They have a long way to go if they are to earn back the trust they have lost, but if Saracens can maintain that pipeline of talent to the England team, rival fans will – slowly but surely – begin to forget, if not forgive.
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Comments on RugbyPass
Results probably skewed by the fact that a few clubs have foreign fly halves in their 30s, but most teams have young English scrum halves. Results also likely to be skewed by the fact that many teams rely on centres and fullbacks to provide depth at 10, whereas they will need to stock a large number of specialist backup 9s.
1 Go to commentsI really get the sense that when all is said and done, the path of least resistance will end up being a merger of Wasps & Worcester that essentially kills the Worcester Warriors brand and sees Wasps permanently playing at Sixways. I’m not saying that’s what should happen or what I want to happen. I just think it’s the easiest rout to take and therefore, will be what happens. Wasps will definitely return to play first, and I suppose it all depends on if they can find support at Sixways. If people turn up and support Wasps in that community, at that ground, I bet they drop the Sevenoaks plan and just remain at Sixways. Under the radar but not totally unrelated, it looks as though London Irish are going to be brought back from the dead by a German consortium and look set to return, likely to the remade Championship. It’s set to have 12 clubs next season with 14 in 2025/26, what do you want to bet those extra 2 are Wasps and London Irish?
1 Go to commentsThe shoulder is a “joint” with multiple bones. You don’t “fracture” a shoulder, you fracture any one or more of the bones that make up a shoulder.
2 Go to commentsOh dear, bones too suspect to continue?
2 Go to commentsBold headline considering the Canes and Blues are 1 and 2 and the Brumbies were soundly beaten by the Chiefs and Blues. Biggest surprise is Rebels 4 Crusaders 12 - no one saw that coming. If Aus are improving that’s great 👍
1 Go to commentsAnna, You are right, we need to have patience whilst the others catch up to England and France. Also it is the PWR that has been the game changer for England. the RFU put money into that initially at the expense of the Red Roses. I was sceptical at first but it has paid off in spades.
1 Go to commentsI think Matt Proctor became a 1 test AB in the same fixture. Cameron is quality and has been great this season, can’t believe’s he only 27. Realistically how would he not be selected for ABs squad this year. Only Dmac is ahead of him as a specialist 10. With Jordan out, it will come down to where and when Beauden Barrett slots back in, and where they want to play Ruben Love. Cameron seems an absolute lock in for the wider squad though. Added benefit of TJ-Cameron-Jordie combination at 9, 10, 11 too.
1 Go to commentsFarcical, to what end would someone want to pay to keep this thing going.
1 Go to commentsHavili, our best 12 by a mile, will be in the squad, if he stays fit. JB is the most overrated AB in the last 50 years.
61 Go to commentsWe had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
8 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
56 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
8 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
61 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to comments