RateTheRef

36 point deduction and £5m fine (subject to appeal) for 3 seasons of flouting wage restrictions.

Can of worms opened.

As a supporter of the only club in the Premiership who is not in debt and has a very clean record on wages I applaud the investigation. Points deduction and fine seem very high (and maybe scaled back on appeal).
However consider the teams that have been affected. Had the point deductions been applied/shared over the 3 seasons in question then in 2 of the 3 years Saracens would not have made the play offs.
Therefore, at least 2 sides have missed out on post season games plus the finalists would have been different.
I feel for the players, team managers and supporters who were not directly involved (although I cannot believe Mark McCall was completely in the dark)
Watch this space

Sounds somewhat draconian but it does seem to have been a pretty flagrant and persistent breach of the rules.  Let's see what the appeal brings. Perhaps not surprisingly Exeter chiefs who were denied top spot twice by Saracens are calling for their relegation but I am sure they would bounce straight back anyway.

Assuming the salary cap has not been "hiked" I cannot think that Saracens have cut their playing squad back for this season. Are they in breach again?
With contracts signed it would be hard to sack any players or get them to take a cut at this stage.
As an Exeter fan I disagree with our Chairmans call for automatic relegation but would like to see the playing field as level as we thought it was

Probably true about this season, I would think.  I can see where the Exeter Chairman is coming from though.  There's no point at all in having a salary cap unless all Clubs comply so that those who don't must face the most serious of consequences, not just to punish them but to deter any others who might think they could get away with it.