It remains to be seen if the Premiership standard-bearers for the last six years burn in a funeral pyre which sees English rugby not only lose the one club it possesses capable of dominating the European Cup but enters a barren landscape as also-rans for the foreseeable future.
If that is the case, Premiership Rugby will have lit its own bonfire of the vanities. In the process, they will have been aided and abetted by a Saracens administration which was complicit in the club’s downfall by laying itself open to a £5.36m fine and 35-points deduction for a salary cap breach.
It is the harshest punishment in Rugby Union annals, and one of the most swingeing in any sport, and yet one of the most veiled and inadequately explained there has ever been.
It has been extraordinarily destructive, bringing a premature end to the reign of an English club which claimed a second European and domestic double last season, having dominated not only the Premiership – winning four of the last five titles – but also the European Cup, in which they have won three of the last four finals.
Saracens are now 26 points behind 11th placed Leicester in the Premiership table, with a job on their hands, given their likely Six Nations call-ups, to avoid relegation.
The destruction was laid bare last weekend when a depleted Saracens were beaten 30-10 in Paris by Racing in Europe’s opening-round, giving them a mountain to climb if they are to defend their title in the knockout stage.
Saracens have been left in a parlous position thanks to a hopelessly timed and disastrously protracted Premiership Rugby legal process which threatened to wreck the season, and in which it eventually emerged that they had no effective right of appeal.
Bu hikaye The Rugby Paper dergisinin November 24, 2019 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye The Rugby Paper dergisinin November 24, 2019 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
Unbeaten Lymm put the Tykes on a leash
LYMM maintained their unbeaten start to the campaign, taking the major scalp of Leeds Tykes and ending the visitors' unblemished start.
Dramatic late win boosts leaders
A LAST-minute converted try saw Tonbridge Juddians snatch victory from the jaws of defeat at Barnes.
England need to be more consistent
I WAS at last week's game against the All Blacks and as much as I enjoyed my first visit to the stadium since the Six Nations, I couldn't help noticing a different attitude of those in control of the stadium's notification system which puts out messages to the crowd.
Cuthbert: Wales have to deliver
ALEX Cuthbert says the pressure on Wales is huge ahead of their opening Autumn Nations Series game against Fiji today.
Anyanwu heads the list of star attractions
TOP 14 transfer speculation is always thoroughly entertaining, and this season has so far been no exception.
Goldthorp can challenge Kildunne for No.15 spot
LOUGHBOROUGH Lightning head coach Nathan Smith is backing Fran Goldthorp to compete with Ellie Kildunne, right, for England's No.15 jersey.
Four-try David calls the shots for Bears
MILLIE David helped Bristol blow Leicester away after scoring four of their 10 tries at Welford Road.
Scott-Young keen to follow his father
TYPICAL of most Australians, Scott-Young Angus has fairly sunny disposition and the loose forward is confident that Saints can soon start to turn things around on the road.
When value for money is not part of the deal
ENGLAND'S bench strategy against New Zealand - goodbye \"bomb squad\", hello \"squib squad\"-has been investigated, psychoanalysed, convicted on all charges and mercilessly sentenced by the entire rugby world and its maiden aunt, so there is no earthly point in returning to the scene of the crime.
'I want to prove my worth to Bath'
OUT-OF-FAVOUR winger RuBath aridh McConnochie is hoping to use the Premiership Cup to lay down a challenge to Johann van Graan and make his selection claims impossible to ignore.