Saracens owner Nigel Wray demands that Premiership Rugby increases salary cap

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Chris Jones24 August 2017

Saracens will up the pressure on Premiership Rugby to reward England’s top clubs for producing home-grown talent.

Premiership Rugby have increased the salary cap to a maximum of £7million for the coming season - a figure that includes a maximum of £600,000 which clubs will receive if they hit the league’s home-grown player quota.

But Sarries owner Nigel Wray has demanded the latter figure be increased or risk “penalising success and rewarding failure”.

It is understood that Harlequins, who have the biggest contingent of home-grown talent in their squad, back the idea of further rewarding the delivery of England-qualified players to the Test arena. Wray supports the views of his director of rugby, Mark McCall, who fears losing home-grown talent once their value increases after making the England set-up.

“Everyone understands the problem,” said Wray. “The paradox is that you enjoy success and build up players who then play for England and the Lions, the market value goes up and you are penalised because they are away with England, so you need a bigger squad.

“We should have some allowance in the salary cap to recognise this situation rather than being penalised. It doesn’t make sense to not encourage clubs to produced English players. The salary cap itself doesn’t need changing but we need a dispensation to ensure we are not penalised. I think it is essential that it happens.”

McCall said: “It would be an unbelievable shame if we had to lose players who have come through our system since they were 14 or 15. To be penalised for having all these academy players who are only asking for their market value, and not to be able to afford them and to have to let them go doesn’t seem right.”

One of those players, Will Fraser, was today forced to quit the game due to a neck injury.

The 27-year old flanker, who joined Saracens at 14 and made 83 appearances for the club, said: “I have had to listen to the medical advice. The decision was made for me, which is tough, but it’s a decision that completely I understand and accept.”

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