Sky News has obtained the full report into Saracens' salary-cap breach, but what's new? Sky Sports News' James Cole has the lowdown...
Detail is the piece of the jigsaw that has been missing until now.
We've learned two key things. First, the extent to which Saracens were over the cap in the previous three seasons; and second, how exactly the club overspent without Premier Rugby knowing.
- Revealed: How Saracens broke salary cap rules
- Vunipola ruled out of Six Nations
- Relegating Saracens 'only option left'
In three seasons, between 2016 and 2019, Saracens were found to have overspent by more than £2m in total.
Significantly, in both of the two seasons in which they overspent by nearly £1m, Saracens won the European Champions Cup.
A top international rugby player's salary is in the region of £500,000 per year. So to put it crudely, you could say they had two internationals more than they should have.
- 2016/17 - overspend over £1.1m
- 2017/18 - overspend over £98,000
- 2018/19 - overspend £906,000
How much are they over the cap now?
We still don't know for sure because Saracens rejected a full audit, in favour of relegation.
But given that the club was roughly £1m over budget last season - and their incomings and outgoings last summer were fairly balanced - it would be fair to estimate the figure is similar.
Who was involved?
Former chairman and multi-millionaire owner Nigel Wray and a number of high-profile England players. Wray was using business partnerships to reward players on top of their salaries.
Maro Itoje
The England and Lions lock features a few times in the report. Wray made a £250,000 investment in Itoje's company.
The disciplinary panel also found Saracens overpaid Itoje by £800,000 for a stake in his image rights company.
Vunipola brothers
Wray made a £450,000 investment in a company majority-owned by brothers Billy and Mako Vunipola.
He also gave the Lions pair an interest-free loan towards a house. A property was bought by a company known as 'Vuniprop'; 66 per cent was funded by the Vunipolas and 33 per cent by the chairman.
Richard Wigglesworth
Wray made a co-investment of £220,000 in the company belonging to England scrum-half Richard Wigglesworth.
Chris Ashton
Wray is also accused of paying 20 per cent of former England wing Chris Ashton's £1.4m home. Saracens claimed it was a commercial arrangement; the panel disagreed.
The report found the players weren't implicit and the breach wasn't deliberate - but that the club had been reckless and, at the very least, negligent.
Where does this leave Saracens' England players?
England captain Owen Farrell wasn't giving too much away at Wednesday's Six Nations launch. But his director of rugby Mark McCall and chief executive Ed Griffiths seem confident that the club's established England internationals will stay.
Saracens have been reassured by England coach Eddie Jones and Lions coach Warren Gatland that a season out of the Premiership will not harm their chances of selection.
"The international players had a very clear view on what they wanted to do, all of them. Luckily enough, that coincided with what we wanted as well," said McCall.
"Eddie is on the whole happy to select players who are established, Warren Gatland the same."
Rugby Players Association 'stunned'
The Rugby Players Association has admitted to having 'fundamental concerns' that confidential information regarding players' identities was leaked.
The RPA's Chief Executive, Damian Hopley said: "Having been given absolute assurances that all confidential player information would be redacted, we were stunned that the entire report was leaked elsewhere to the press and this has caused untold damage to all parties concerned. We have taken up this breach of confidence with PRL as a matter of urgency and will continue to offer our ongoing support to all the players involved."