Saracens break silence on relegation decision

NEWS: Saracens have broken their silence after Premiership Rugby's decision to automatically relegate the club for breaching the salary cap.

Officials decided to take the radical step after further discussions with the club who had already been punished earlier in the season for previous breaches.

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"The Board Of Saracens wishes to unreservedly apologise for the mistakes made in relation to the salary cap regulations," said a statement from the Saracens.

"Our goal is to rebuild confidence and trust. The first step was to appoint a new independent chairman to lead on governance reform ensuring errors of the past are not replicated in the future.

"Furthermore, following open and frank discussions with PRL, we have accepted the unprecedented measure of automatic relegation from the Premiership at the end of the 2019-2020 season.

"We understand this decision will be difficult for the Saracens family to accept. The Board must embody the values of the club, learn from its mistakes so the club can come back stronger.

It is in the wider interests of the Premiership and English rugby to take this decisive step, to ensure everybody is able once again to focus on the game of rugby, which we all love.

"We hope that we can now start to move forward, begin to restore confidence and over time, rebuild trust with PRL, its stakeholders and the wider rugby community."

Following the decision over Saracens’ relegation, the club will continue to compete in Premiership Rugby through to the end of the 2019-20 season.