In one of the most spectacular downfalls in the history of rugby union, English and European champion Saracens will be relegated at the end of the season for breaching salary-cap rules.
The dramatic development leaves the future of some of the world’s most high-profile players — including England captain Owen Farrell, and international teammates Maro Itoje and brothers Billy and Mako Vunipola — up in the air.
Premiership Rugby, which runs the English top tier, on Saturday said that Saracens will finish the current season before being dropped down to the second tier.
The club from north London has won four of the past five English titles and three of the past four European Cup titles, one of the most dominant reigns in the history of European club rugby. However, those victories were followed by allegations of avoiding the English league’s salary-cap rules by making payments to companies owned by Saracens players.
Saracens were deducted 35 points ahead of the start of the English league season and fined more than ￡5 million (US$6.5 million) for three seasons’ spending above the cap.
They could not prove that they were compliant with the salary cap, having failed to release any of their high-earning players from the squad, and have chosen to accept relegation.
“I acknowledge the club has made errors in the past and we unreservedly apologize for those mistakes,” Saracens chairman Neil Golding said in a statement released by Premiership Rugby. “I and the rest of the board are committed to overseeing stringent new governance measures to ensure regulatory compliance going forward.”
Premiership Rugby also said it would commission a review of the salary cap system to ensure what Premiership Rugby chief executive officer Darren Childs called “a level playing field for all clubs in the future.”
The Exeter Chiefs were beaten by Saracens in the past two Premiership finals and Exeter chief executive Tony Rowe told the BBC that he was relieved the champions have been strongly punished.
“Let’s be very honest about this before people have sympathy with Saracens,” Rowe said. “They had two choices: They could either open up their books so that Premiership Rugby could do a forensic audit of exactly what has gone on, or they could take relegation. So it was their choice not to open up their books.”
It was not immediately clear whether Saracens would be allowed to keep the trophies they won while in breach of the cap.
Saracens have won six of their first eight league games, but are still in last place on minus-7 points.
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