Saracens: Premiership club set to drop appeal over points deduction and fine after breaching salary cap

The champions are now set to face a relegation battle after being handed the record-breaking sanctions

Saracens were deducted 35 points and handed a fine in excess of £5m (Getty)

Saracens are set to drop their planned appeal against a £5.4million fine and a 35-point penalty for a breach of the salary cap, according to the Press Association.

The back-to-back Premiership champions and reigning European champions had initially announced their intention to appeal against what they deemed to be “heavy-handed” punishments that were further described by club chairman Nigel Wray as “absolutely devastating”.

But ahead of Monday’s deadline to officially serve notice of appeal, Saracens are now poised to confirm they will not be doing so.

An independent panel, led by barrister Lord Dyson, found the club had failed to disclose payments to players in each of the 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons, and had also exceeded the ceiling for payments to senior players.

No details have been revealed on the size of the undisclosed payments or the recipients but Premiership Rugby’s investigations were thought to have centred around Wray’s involvements in companies such as VunProp Ltd (Mako and Billy Vunipola), Faz Investments Ltd (Owen Farrell), Wiggy9 Ltd (Richard Wigglesworth) and MN Property Solutions Ltd (Maro Itoje).

The panel was established after a nine-month Premiership Rugby investigation led to charges being brought in June. The panel upheld all the charges.

PA