Saracens to be relegated at end of 2019/20 season, Premiership Rugby confirms

Saracens will be relegated from the top flight of English rugby at the end of the 2019/20 season, Premiership Rugby has announced.

The club were deducted 35 points and fined £5.3million in November, having broken the cap for the past three seasons.

Darren Childs, chief executive of Premiership Rugby, said: “Premiership Rugby is prepared to take strong action to enforce the regulations governing fair competition between our clubs.

“At the conclusion of dialogue with Saracens about their compliance with the Salary Cap Regulations, it has been decided that Saracens will be relegated at the end of this season.

“At the same as enforcing the existing regulations, we want to ensure a level playing field for all clubs in the future, which is why we have asked Lord Myners to carry out an independently-led review of the Salary Cap.”

The club, bottom of the table with minus seven points, will continue to compete in the Premiership until the end of the season.

Neil Golding, who replaced Nigel Wray as Saracens chairman earlier this month, said: “As the new chairman of Saracens I acknowledge the club has made errors in the past and we unreservedly apologise for those mistakes.

“I and the rest of the board are committed to overseeing stringent new governance measures to ensure regulatory compliance going forward.”

The charges relate to a failure to disclose player payments in each of the 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons.

The Premiership champions have won four of the last five titles.

Premiership Rugby introduced its salary cap in 1999 to ensure the financial viability of all clubs and the competition.