Monday 20 January 2020 16:59, UK
Former England international Jeff Probyn has described Premiership Rugby's actions as "unprofessional" after Saracens' relegation was confirmed.
The Premiership champions will play in the Championship next season after salary cap breaches. Saracens were initially given a 35-point penalty and fined £5.36m in November but the club have now accepted demotion after being unable to reduce their wage bill.
Probyn said: "When you look at it, Saracens admitted they broke the salary cap. None of us know how they broke the salary cap but according to the reports it was an accident, let's say an accountancy error. The reality is if they offload players they still have to pay the value of the contract so they were always going to be in breach of the salary cap this year.
"It seems a bit harsh to then say we're going to punish you further by relegating you, creating a situation where realistically they should have said either we're relegating you now or giving you this points deduction.
"They took the points deduction, it looks like Saracens will get more points than they needed to to survive and then they've changed their mind. It seems the PRL don't know what they're doing really. It's very unprofessional what they've done and the way they've reacted."
Former England forward Lewis Moody believes other teams should be investigated to ensure Saracens are not the only Premiership club in breach of the salary cap.
Moody said: "This sparks an interesting debate because with Saracens getting caught out, like they have, there's got to be questions about how many other clubs have been tinkering with the salary cap. We know when the game was about to turn professional there were brown envelopes and all sorts going on.
"I think for it to be completely fair there needs to be some headway made into looking at the other clubs and understanding what is going on.
"I hope this is a one off. I don't think any of us would like to see multiple relegations from the Premiership. It would just create chaos but certainly there needs to be a level of fairness and that means there needs to be some overview in terms of all the clubs."
