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Gallagher PremiershipBristol

Bristol salary cap gaffe has sparked a player fire sale - report

Bristol winger Luke Morahan (Photo by David Davies/PA Images via Getty Images)

Ex-England second row Dave Attwood won’t be the first top player to exit Bristol as it has been reported a fire sale is underway due to a Premiership salary cap oversight for the 2022/23 season by the Bears. It was two years ago – during the lockdown suspension of the 2019/20 season – that a decision was taken by the Gallagher Premiership clubs to reduce the salary cap from £6.4million to £5m for the 2021/22 season. 

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A clause, though, allowed clubs to only count 75 per cent of existing contracts against the revised cap, something that resulted in a host of clubs renegotiating the existing deals they had with players prior to the July 1 deadline in 2020. 

This led to numerous contracts becoming ‘two-plus-one’, two-year deals with the option of a third year when the time came and it would allow clubs to count just 75 per cent of that revised contract towards the reduced salary cap. 

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Nathan Hughes – A Fijian Ferrari, Bronco Tests and Playing for England | RugbyPass Offload | Episode 27

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      Nathan Hughes – A Fijian Ferrari, Bronco Tests and Playing for England | RugbyPass Offload | Episode 27

      We hear about his early days playing in New Zealand before moving to Wasps and eventually lining out for England. He gives us an incredible insight into life under Eddie Jones and Pat Lam, why he left Bristol for Bath and his aspirations to line out for Fiji. Lots more including his introduction to Lawrence Dallaglio, his run-in with Ryan Wilson when England played Scotland and his England debut versus the Boks.

      However, the UK Telegraph have now reported that Bristol missed the deadline regarding the ‘plus-one’ aspect, resulting in the third year of the ‘two-plus-one’ deals kicking in and leaving them poised to spend more than stipulated by the salary cap for the 2022/23 season.

      This administrative gaffe has apparently resulted in Bristol having to offload a half-dozen players. The Telegraph reported: “It is understood Bristol intended to release six players, whose contracts were worth an estimated £400,000. 

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      “However, they missed the deadline, meaning the third-year extensions had already kicked in. A club spokesman declined to comment on Thursday night. Even if those players are paid off, it is understood that would still count against the salary cap, so Bristol are now having to make savings wherever they can.

      “Including their marquee players, Bristol had one of the biggest wage bills in the Premiership and an emergency board meeting was convened when the mistake came to light in March. They have also committed to signing England prop Ellis Genge and Sale fly-half AJ MacGinty for next season.”

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      Other players now linked to the fire sale commenced by the offloading of Attwood to Bath on Thursday are former Wallabies winger Luke Morahan and midfielder Antoine Frisch. The salary cap blunder is the latest twist in an underwhelming season for Bristol. 

      They finished last season on top of the Premiership regular season table but their results have imploded this season, Pat Lam’s team winning just six of its 19 league games so far to leave them in tenth place and with no chance of reaching the end-of-season semi-finals. 

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      Comments on RugbyPass

      J
      JB 11 minutes ago
      Six Nations report card: Each team graded from A to F

      Re England … “they stunned France …”

      Really? Were we watching the same game? France left at least 3 tries begging, none of which were due to England’s defense - they should have been out of sight by half time.

      For me, it was more France losing the game than England winning it.

      France were stunned, yes, but by themselves

      1 Go to comments
      J
      Jahmirwayle 29 minutes ago
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      8 Go to comments
      T
      TI 31 minutes ago
      Lions selection: 3 winners and losers from each country

      Hugo Keenan played well in games where Ireland didn’t. I think he should be listed as a winner instead of Beirne, or Sheehan, who were always going to go.

      2 Go to comments
      C
      Chelsey Kate 38 minutes ago
      Did innovative England emerge strongest from the Six Nations?

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      36 Go to comments
      f
      fl 43 minutes ago
      Did innovative England emerge strongest from the Six Nations?

      It will be interesting to see how developmental the summer squad is. Given how much consistency of selection there was throughout 2024 and the early part of 2025, I wonder if Borthwick’s suddenly erratic teamsheets were an attempt to build enough depth to play almost solely first team players against Argentina.


      E.g. if Freeman and Furbank both go to Australia (which I think would be unlikely) England could still field a back three of Marcus Smith, Roebuck, and Feyi-Waboso, with Steward, Daly, Sleightholme, and Murley also in the squad. Similarly if both Curry brothers and Ben Earl all go (which I think would be similarly unlikely) England could still select Tom Willis, Underhill, and Cunningham-South in the back row. Hardly a developmental lineup! There would have to be newer and less experienced players brought in in the second row and at centre, but even here there could be starting partnerships of Martin & Coles and Dingwall & Daly.


      I think there’s a good chance England’s progress will be built on directly in Argentina.

      36 Go to comments
      J
      JD Kiwi 53 minutes ago
      Did innovative England emerge strongest from the Six Nations?

      The big concern for me is that our 13 forwards are at a big disadvantage against their 15.

      36 Go to comments
      O
      Otagoman II 53 minutes ago
      Did innovative England emerge strongest from the Six Nations?

      They had an average game against a Hurricanes side that was marginally better. They were poor protecting their ball and blew many promising attacking raids. Tangitau did his best to win the game by himself with a 85 metre intercept try and a a quick tap kick ahead that resulted in another. Highlanders scored no phase play tries. Joseph said that their attack was basically too conservative playing one out and that the support should of been better. They will need to do better with their attack this saturday as the Reds have plenty of points in them with quick ball.

      36 Go to comments
      f
      fl 58 minutes ago
      Did innovative England emerge strongest from the Six Nations?

      “I wonder if Kevin Sinfield has had a hand in the selection of so many sevens with his League background”

      bit confused by this - what’s the league connection?

      36 Go to comments
      f
      fl 1 hour ago
      Did innovative England emerge strongest from the Six Nations?

      yeah he’s English! He’s just bitter now because he’s part of the “everything good England has ever done is solely down to Marcus Smith” brigade.

      36 Go to comments
      J
      JD Kiwi 1 hour ago
      Did innovative England emerge strongest from the Six Nations?

      The phone and its predecessors have often been dropped but are well protected 😂


      Must be tragic for a proud Welshman like yourself to see they've made such a disastrous mess of the game.

      36 Go to comments
      N
      NB 1 hour ago
      Did innovative England emerge strongest from the Six Nations?

      It’s good that there can be a comparison at all, and that we are not all railroaded towards 7-1 OM!


      How are the Landers going since I wrote that piece about them?

      36 Go to comments
      N
      NB 1 hour ago
      Did innovative England emerge strongest from the Six Nations?

      Lowest 6N was about 88 minutes.


      I don’t know where you get 120 minutes for the Premer from, most games are around 93-94 mins from the games I have on file.

      36 Go to comments
      L
      LonnyGraves 1 hour ago
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      26 Go to comments
      N
      NB 1 hour ago
      Did innovative England emerge strongest from the Six Nations?

      Exactly Bob👍

      36 Go to comments
      N
      NB 1 hour ago
      Did innovative England emerge strongest from the Six Nations?

      English refs were already applying similar principles tbf MJ. It’s nice they are being reinforced down under as it allows a different model of the matchday 23 top evolve!

      36 Go to comments
      N
      NB 1 hour ago
      Did innovative England emerge strongest from the Six Nations?

      Excellent tactic Tom. Don’t forget Daly also used it for the breakaway try!

      36 Go to comments
      N
      NB 1 hour ago
      Did innovative England emerge strongest from the Six Nations?

      Is he in the north FL?

      36 Go to comments
      N
      NB 1 hour ago
      Did innovative England emerge strongest from the Six Nations?

      It took some guts not to pick a second row on the bench and shift Earl to 12 didn’t it? So kudos to big Steve.


      A model for future England is emerging, it’s not the same as averyone else and supporters can be rightfully proud that it has.

      36 Go to comments
      N
      NB 1 hour ago
      Did innovative England emerge strongest from the Six Nations?

      Yes it would not have been unjuts if England had beaten both Aussie and NZ, and they came closer than any to beating SA at the end too.


      So I feel your conclusions are spot on Bob👍

      36 Go to comments
      N
      NB 1 hour ago
      Did innovative England emerge strongest from the Six Nations?

      Had a broken arm not occured Marcus would still be no 10 , had Russell put the kick over and France not dropped the ball , had Lawrence not been injured the scenario would be very different

      Before the tournament started all the stories were about Borthwick’s bad luck in losing all the tight games! The point is he rode his luck and built on it when he finally had some.


      Nobody else did that to Wales in the 6N - not France, not Ireland or Scotland. So some credit is due.


      I wonder if Kevin Sinfield has had a hand in the selection of so many sevens with his League background?

      36 Go to comments
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