https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/ ... gby-league

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/ ... gby-league

One player not players.

I think they are targeting anyone that's willing to leave union, sounds a bit desperate to bring in a key player who ever it is a bit like changing your car but not bothered about the colour as long as it works

“We’ve still got one spot left on the new talent pool dispensation and should the opportunity present itself, we’d certainly look at it.”

Not exactly targeting anyone with the above comment, which makes it sound like a non story.

Good on Wire for generating some publicity here.
The players that Saracens will need to offload will be on significant money and despite not counting on the cap, it would represent a huge gamble to take on a huge wage bill for an untried and untested Union player.
Lets not forget that, there will be some top union sides also chasing signatures for their (Saracens) better players and how ever wealthy Wire may be, they just aren't in the same league as the big boys in Union.

As I said, well done for gaining some publicity.

The majority of Union sides will have finished recruitment and be close to the cap (or the upper limit of what they can afford) I would imagine.

Are you sure ?
Their season is just coming to an end, with Saracens facing the drop.
Their recruitment, although no doubt under way, wont be complete by any means and there will be options for some of those players to play down under or South Africa / France etc
Nobody and definitely not wire, will get a free run on their players and you have to ask, why would their international stars want to swap codes and screw their chances of playing 6 nations etc - it's an absolute non story.

No player with 6 nations ambitions (for England) will leave UK RU, I agree.

Don't think the union season is over til May-ish

My bad, I thought they'd only just finished their season.
I assume this means that Saries squad can stay together until the end of the season ?

Yes, and that is what the rest of the competition is up in arms about. They can also compete in the European Cup but wont be able to defend it next season (if they win).

It is a shambles even the RFL would be ashamed of.

You cant argue against the punishment, can you imagine the uproar in our sport if say, Leeds or Wigan were ever given a 35 point deduction and £5 million fine.
Having said that, it appears to have been shown that there was a systematic breech of the cap over a sustained period of time.
Mind you the shenanigans at Wigan, when they signed Fielden and had Radlinski "playing for free" were certainly worthy of stiffer punishment than they received, which seems to show that Union does indeed have bigger balls than League.

The original deal Saracens struck was a fine and points deduction so as not to have the RFU "open the books", which the RFU are now doing anyway, so yes, a much bigger pair of nuts than the RFL.

IiRC waan't Noble at Wigan when they 'adjusted'the salary cap, a bit similar to what he wants to do at TWP?

It was indeed under Noble and unlike RL, Union is happy to hit the superstar side, who have cheated their way to the top.
In League, it's been more of a case of having to be seen doing something, rather than any kind of real punishment or deterrent.

Oh come on, the scale of the breach and number of seasons it went on for and the consequences far outweigh anything seen in RL. As I understand it the reason for relegation is that Saracens won't open their books for this season. We have a rolling Salary Cap so the books effectively are permanently open.
There may well be plenty of things to criticise our sport for, but not this.

You've not read the thread fully then?

Why on earth would I want to do that? I thought it was a rule on here to post your thoughts without any reference to what has gone before and certainly not to pay any attention to the Topic Title. I think my post qualified.

lol, fair point!

Just reading that Saracens have been docked a further SEVENTY points, just to ensure that they are relegated at the end of the season.
If this had been League, their deduction would have been halved and fine suspended.
A total of ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE POINTS deducted - wow.

[url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/51283088and still the players defend it[/url

surely, if they finish bottom of the top league by 1 point, another 104 carry over.

Saracens have some quality players that with a good bit of fitness work would walk into Warrington team and most SL teams for that matter. If the wolfs really are serious about signing a player from saracens good on them I say.