Lord Dyson’s report lays bare the antipathy between Saracens and the Premiership in a blame game that invites more questions and is set to run and runWe are often told that rugby union, at its heart, is a simple game. Run straight, tackle hard, score more points than the other lot and buy your opposite number a beer afterwards. How quaint. This weekend every clubhouse bar in the land will be abuzz with people discussing image rights, co-investments, legalese and business acumen, a reflection of a fast-changing sport if ever there was one.
Maybe that was always going to be the logical consequence of the professional era, now some 25 years old. The game is unrecognisable in many respects, not least in terms of fitness levels, global reach and commercial horizons. The price to be paid, however, is starkly laid out in Lord Dyson’s 103-page report into Saracens’ salary cap breaches finally released by Premiership Rugby. It contains heaps of detail but the most crucial element is conspicuously absent. Trust is meant to be the key element in every relationship: right now in English rugby it is nonexistent.