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Saracens issue statement regarding their Barbarians players
By Ian Cameron
Saracens have issued their contingent of players involved with the Barbarians cancellation fiasco with a verbal tongue lashing.
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The England Barbarians game set for Sunday had to be cancelled after a large cohort of players – including former England captain Chris Robshaw – breached their pre-agreed hotel bubble to visit a restaurant in the lead up to the game.
A number of Saracens players were among the ranks of the offenders in question.
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Richard Wigglesworth, issued the following message: “Embarrassed and beyond gutted to have let Vern Cotter and the Barbarians down as well as the RFU. Should not have happened and for that I am truly sorry. I’ve let a lot of people down including myself and wish I’d done it differently. Sorry again.”
Wigglesworth’s Saracens teammate Jackson Wray has also apologised, saying that he is “devastated” the match is cancelled. Sarries’ Scotland winger Sean Maitland was also involved in the outing in question.
Tim Swinson tells us what it was SUPPOSED to be like ? #Barbarians #England pic.twitter.com/e05C5rUP8T
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 22, 2020
Saracens have also issued a statement: “Saracens is extremely disappointed to learn that some of its players breached the agreed Covid code of conduct protocol whilst on Barbarians duty.
“Although not on club duty whilst with the Barbarians, these players have fallen well short of the high professional standards that are expected at Saracens. Representing the invitational side is a privilege which they have now missed out on due to their poor judgement.
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“Management has spoken to the players involved about their responsibilities of representing Saracens away from the club and the impact that these actions have on everyone associated with the club. We are thinking particularly of our loyal supporters who have been magnificent in recent months and would have been looking forward to watching an extremely strong Saracens contingent at Twickenham on Sunday.
“All in question have apologised for their actions.
“The club will be making no further comment.”
The @AndyGoode10 Column ???:
"There will be fans looking at this news who obviously want to watch the game on television, but would also love to be out there playing. Not at Twickenham, just at their local club."https://t.co/OZNxZnsm2c
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 24, 2020
CEO of the Rugby Football Union Bill Sweeney shared this on Friday afternoon: “There has been a great deal of effort put into Covid codes of conduct and planning for games, including cooperation with Premiership clubs to release additional players to fulfil the fixture safely.
“We are all incredibly frustrated and disappointed that the actions of a number of Barbarians players mean we no longer feel it is safe for the game to go ahead.”
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