Elliot Daly becomes the latest major England star to publicly pledge allegiance to Saracens

Elliot Daly has joined England team-mate Jamie George in publicly committing his future to Saracens in the wake of the salary cap scandal that has engulfed Allianz Park.

The double winners will be relegated from the Gallagher Premiership in June as punishment for repeatedly breaching the £7million ceiling for player wages, placing the futures of their influential England contingent in doubt.

George has revealed he is set to stay and now Daly has pledged his loyalty despite a turbulent first season in north London having joined from Wasps last summer.

Saracens have received assurances from the Lions and England that competing in the Championship will not harm the ambitions of their internationals, but the details of what a year spent in the second tier will mean for the players are still being finalised.

“Yeah I reckon I’ll stay, pretty similar to Jamie. I am still in contract,” said Daly ahead of Sunday’s Guinness Six Nations clash with Ireland.

“We have the rest of the season to sort it out. At the moment, I’m just thinking about the next couple of games with England and then when I get back to Saracens, we’ll start talking about next year.”

In early November Daly returned from Japan where he had helped England reach the World Cup final only to walk straight into the crisis at Allianz Park – without having played a single game for his new club.

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An initial 35-point deduction and £5.36million fine were followed by another 70-point deduction, guaranteeing their relegation.

“My first day wasn’t the best! It’s a big thing and it’s not to be taken lightly, but the way Saracens dealt with the players I thought was really good,” Daly said.

“I didn’t see this coming but I definitely don’t have any regrets joining. The way that we train, the players there, the coaching staff – it’s an amazing club to be at.

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“When a club like Saracens want to sign you, the best team in Europe as they were at that time, it’s a no-brainer to go and play with some very good people.”

Apart from moving back to the left wing where he started his Test career, Daly’s focus during the first two rounds of the Six Nations has been helping room-mate George Furbank adapt to his old position of full-back.

According to Daly, Furbank was “shocked” to learn he would be making his debut against France and – after a difficult first cap in Paris – he produced an improved performance in atrocious conditions against Scotland.

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Furbank grew up wanting to be a cricketer and was at Leicestershire as a junior but he moved to rugby where a couple of years at Cambridge were followed by Chris Boyd’s arrival at Northampton.

Having been attached to Saints since his academy days, the 23-year-old Open University geography student was elevated into the starting XV by Boyd with his stellar form this season catching the eye of Eddie Jones.

“It’s a bit surreal. I’ve still only played 30 games for Saints, so even though things had been going reasonably well in the Premiership, I wasn’t really expecting a call-up,” Furbank said.

“When I entered into them, they were all – to my knowledge – above board. There wasn’t any intention or even a thought that this was not above board."https://t.co/M9UHa4FHCL

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“To get it was slightly surreal in itself. I wasn’t really expecting to be involved in the first game against France at all. It was an amazing feeling.

“The nerves were well and truly going on Sunday morning. It was different to anything I’d played in front of before.

“That was all a bit crazy and potentially I let that get to me a little bit during the game, but for the Scotland week I felt more myself, more settled.”

PA