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Saracens supporters have been abused in the street in the wake of this week’s punishment over breaches of salary cap rules.
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That’s according to renowned BT commentator Nick Mullins, who said he had heard from supporters who had been verbally abused.
The Allianz Park side were handed a 35-point league deduction and fined more than £5million on Tuesday, although both sanctions will be suspended while the London club appeal against them.
If the deduction remains in place – for multiple breaches of Premiership Rugby’s salary cap regulations over the last three seasons – Saracens are odds-on for relegation this term.
Mullins wrote on Twitter: “Heard from Saracens supporters this week who’ve been abused in the street. That cannot be right. You’ll react in your own way if you’re off to Kingsholm tomorrow, but this is worth thinking about.”
Heard from Saracens supporters this week who’ve been abused in the street. That cannot be right. You’ll react in your own way if you’re off to Kingsholm tomorrow, but this is worth thinking about. Gloucester V Saracens 2.30pm @btsportrugby https://t.co/qriyGB9dfw
— Nick Mullins (@andNickMullins) November 8, 2019
Many have requested that Gloucester fans remain respectful of the visiting Saracens team this week.
https://twitter.com/RugbyGlaws/status/1192324427423395842
Thanks Jim. You and all Glaws fans – and all away fans – are always extremely welcome visitors at Allianz Park. Hope we don’t lose part of rugby’s identity by dividing fan groups. Rivalry is laughing and drinking together. #RugbyUnited pic.twitter.com/CwORa4iEGx
— #RugbySaracens (@RugbySaracens) November 7, 2019
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Elsewhere former England captain Martin Johnson has warned Gallagher Premiership clubs not to write off the reigning champs.
But asked about the prospect of the European and English champions going down, Johnson replied: “I think they might manage to avoid it (relegation). We were talking before about motivation and they might.
“I heard it was coming a while ago and they were not going to announce it, but there is not much detail there.
“They are saying they didn’t do it knowingly, which they are going to say at this point, and they are appealing, but I don’t know the detail.
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“It’s self-imposed (the salary cap), it’s a Premiership agreed thing amongst themselves to keep the costs down. It is up to them to sort that out and the punishment.
“Saracens have produced a lot of the England players, it’s the core of a team which got to the final and a lot have come through the system and they’ve done a good job, it has to be said.
Fairplay to @notoriousPCO #wasps https://t.co/dBouYOroIU
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 9, 2019
“It will be interesting to see if that’s upheld or what happens.”
Nine players from Mark McCall’s side were part of Eddie Jones’ squad out in Japan.
Former England captain Johnson believes the World Cup runners-up will benefit from being thrown back into the Premiership season after such an intense couple of months.
“They will go back to their clubs and enjoy being home and away from the pressure of World Cup build-up and the World Cup,” the ex-Leicester lock added.
“Actually you get back from a World Cup nowadays and the pressure of your club games feel halved because it’s not the super intense World Cup.
“Then they get to the Six Nations and it feels quite joyful. You don’t feel as pressurised during that first Six Nations after a World Cup. People are not talking about the World Cup anymore, you just play the tournament.
“It’s France away in the first game which is huge because France could have got to the final and should have certainly got to the semi-final.
“That could be a cracking game and there is nothing like a big game to get your mind back into it and off you go. These guys are mid-career so don’t over dwell on the World Cup final.”
Martin Johnson was speaking at the launch of UNTUCKit, who design shirts specifically to be worn untucked – www.untuckit.com
He added: “I have been very lucky to do what I have done in sport and I have met people in my sport and other sports and they are all human beings. We all have our weaknesses, fallibilities and our issues confidence wise.”
– PA
Comments on RugbyPass
An 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
1 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 Crusades , you can keep going.
1 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!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 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.
24 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.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to comments