'You can't keep a trophy if you're proven to have broken the rules'
There is more than a whiff of good versus evil surrounding Saturday’s long-awaited Champions Cup quarter-final collision between Leinster and Saracens. It’s 71 weeks since the duo faced off in the 2019 final in Newcastle. The English club were winners that day, their victory widely acknowledged as deserved for the bruising, clinical manner in which they turned a ten-point deficit into a win by ten.
Since though, though, the world has changed. Not only has the coronavirus run riot through the sport’s sandcastle-like finances, with officials in Ireland on Friday the latest to paint a doomsday scenario, but the appreciation of Saracens’ trophy-collecting habits has also been reduced to rubble.
Whereas once Saracens were admired as the standard others should aspire to, the grubby salary cap scandal, which will see them relegated to the Championship for 2020/21 and unable to compete in the Champions Cup for the first time since 2009/10, has damaged their reputation in a devastating fashion as they head to Leinster.
Eight months after their relegation punishment was meted out, there are some who still feel they weren’t hammered severely enough. Take John Kingston, the former long-serving Harlequins coach who was at the helm when Richmond were dropped like a stone down the English pyramid system when they went into administration 21 years ago.
He told RugbyPass that English officials should have gone further and stripped Saracens of the trophies they won in the Premiership seasons there were found to be guilty of breaking the salary cap.
Leinster vs Saracens has a brief history but a memorable one. Who gets the win this weekend? #LeinsterVsSaracens #EuropeanChampionsCup pic.twitter.com/MRiFW3RHap
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 17, 2020
“I struggle to see the Saracens penalty is actually in line with previous stuff that has gone on where clubs have gone into administration because of maladministration of finances. Take Richmond – the consequences of that was (dropping down) nine divisions. You look at Saracens, where cheating has happened on a day to day, week to week basis, and it’s just one division. I’m struggling with that.
“I’m probably in a minority, but I also struggle with the fact the medals have not been returned. For me, it’s very simple: if you’re caught cheating, which is what it was, and you have won something then you’re disqualified and therefore you hand back your medals. It happened to Lance Armstrong. Go to Melbourne Storm and look at rugby league.
“I was asked the other week would you really take a medal off Brad Barritt, what has he done wrong? I said I would because it wasn’t legal what was going on. I’m afraid if you were part of something where you win a title or a cup and you have broken the rules I don’t think history can allow you to continue to have done that.
“Take Bloodgate, for example. I lived and worked my way through that (at Harlequins) and the reality was rules were broken. It was wrong and if Quins had gone on and won the trophy that should have been taken away from them even though it would have been for something far less than the systematic day in, day out Saracens cheating. You can’t keep a trophy if you’re proven to have broken the rules.”
It’s a feeling of injustice that has drifted across the Irish Sea. If Saracens hadn’t broken the Premiership salary cap, would they have had such a strong squad at their disposal to help them win three Champions Cup titles in four seasons, largely at the expense of Leinster?
It’s another appetising reason why Leinster will be gunning to put Saracens to the sword at the Aviva Stadium. If Saracens’ 2018/19 Premiership tile is now tarnished due to salary cap breaches, so too surely is their 2018/19 European final win over the Irish province?
To be fair to Leinster, there has been no Kingston-like outburst over what Saracens have gotten away with, but privately it must annoy them that they are only chasing a second European title in three seasons rather than entering Saturday’s encounter as back-to-back 2018 and 2019 champions chasing a hat-trick of titles.
Adding fuel to the fire is how it would be a killer if Leinster, unbeaten in the 71 weeks since that 2019 final in Newcastle, were to have their 25-game winning streak snapped by an old foe weakened by the loss of the suspended Owen Farrell.
Team news ?@JohnnySexton returns as captain for @leinsterrugby as they welcome @Saracens to the Aviva in a re-run of last season's #HeinekenChampionsCup final ?
Will the English side end their undefeated run so far? ? pic.twitter.com/Q2GDgokj2t
— Heineken Champions Cup (@ChampionsCup) September 18, 2020
An Irish loss isn’t expected to happen, though. Whereas Saracens are finally paying a price for all their shady off-field dealings and are coming to Dublin with an XV that doesn’t possess the same level of suffocating clout their St James’ Park winners did, Leinster have moved their game on in the meantime.
They won their latest PRO14 title last weekend in a canter and the greater depth in their squad is illustrated by how Josh van der Flier, man of the match in that decider, is held in reserve this weekend, Will Connors joining Caelan Doris and Jack Conan in a back row they believe will the measure of Billy Vunipola and co.
It was Vunipola’s ball-carrying that extricated Saracens from their sticky situation 16 months ago and Leinster will be wise to the danger of allowing him to have a dominant say on proceedings here.
What has further steeled the Leinster mindset is how their PRO14 final performance wasn’t perfect, their misfiring lineout, for instance, resulting in the recall to Sean Cronin from the shadows for a rare start in recent times.
It’s illustrative of how the Irish have staved off any threat of complacency in their long unbeaten run. Selection rotation has served them nicely, but they now really need to endorse that excellence by giving Saracens the boot from Europe and exorcise the ghost of the 2019 decider, something which Leo Cullen alluded to in this week’s build-up.
“They [Saracens] have had plenty of change since then but they are still the champions, they are still the team we’re trying to beat because they are the ones with the European trophy in their cabinet at the moment and that’s what we’re all trying to go after at the moment. Yeah, it’s a game we’ve all been looking forward to for a long time.”
Haven’t we all? It should initially be a treat of a power struggle but it’s one that can ultimately go Leinster’s way in a comfortable fashion similar to how they dethroned Saracens at this same stage of the tournament in 2018.
"Do they play rugby in Barbados? I might play there"
– Maro Itoje has revealed he doesn't plan on being a one-club man and spending his entire career at Saracens w/@heagneyl ??? https://t.co/j12X7l29Us
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 18, 2020
Comments on RugbyPass
It’s impressive that we can see huge stadiums with attendance in the 40 000 to 50 000 region. It shows how popular this competition is becoming. What is even more impressive is the massive growth in broadcast viewership. The URC is one of the two best leagues in the World, the other being the Top14.
6 Go to commentsChristie is not Sottish, like the majority of the Scotland team.
2 Go to commentsHold the phone, decline over-rated. Is it a one game, dead cat bounce or the real thing? Has the Penney dropped? Stay tuned.
44 Go to commentsTotally deserved win for the Crusaders Far smarter than the Chiefs who seem to be avoiding the basics when it matters Hotham showed them what was missing and Hannah seems a real find - a tad light but that can be fixed over time
8 Go to commentsGreat insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
2 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
6 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
44 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
8 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
8 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
8 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
44 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to commentsThis is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?
35 Go to commentsWow, didn’t realise there was such apathy to URC in SA, or by Champions Cup teams. Just read Nick’s article on Crusaders, are Sharks a similar circumstance? I think SA rugby has been far more balanced than NZs, no?
4 Go to commentsBut here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.
44 Go to commentsIt could be coincidental or prescient that the All Blacks most dominant period under Steve Hansen was when the Crusaders had their least successful period under Todd Blackadder and then the positions reversed when Razor took over the Crusaders.
44 Go to commentsDefinitely sound read everybodyexpects immediate results these days, I don't think any team would travel well at all having lost three of the most important game changers in the game,compiled with the massive injury list they are now carrying, good to see a different more in depth perspective of a coaches history.
3 Go to comments