Bristol Bears attempt at some clever accounting looks like it could come back to bite them.
According to reports, Bristol face losing several core players in their squad as the club desperately look to offload contacts to squeeze under the salary cap as a serious administrative blunder has put them at risk of exceeding it next season.
In the midst of the first lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic that saw professional sport stop and then restart without fans in stadiums, the 13 Gallagher Premiership clubs voted to reduce the league's salary cap from £6.4 million to £5 million for the 2021-22 season.
Bristol were one of the few dissenters but went with the majority on the decision in light of the bleak financial landscape, with Exeter Chiefs - who were pre-pandemic the league's only profit-making side - reporting this week they made a loss of more than £6.3m from June 2020 to June 2021, in which time they won the European Heineken Champions Cup and Premiership title.
Despite the efforts to try and cut spending across the league, a lot of clubs, including the Bears, took advantage of a loophole that allowed them to count 75 percent of existing contracts against the revised cap providing they were agreed before a certain date.
Accordingly, on August 14, 2020, Bristol announced 33 contract renewals that had been completed in the small window before that date loophole date passed - with deals for players including Steven Luatua, Charles Piutau, Nathan Hughes, Chris Vui, Luke Morahan, Kyle Sinckler, Andy Uren, Joe Joyce and Callum Sheedy.
The Daily Telegraph reports that in Bristol’s case, the majority of players signed new “two plus one” deals, which is a two-year contract with an option of a third on the same terms unless either party decides to pull out by a set deadline.
It was Pat Lam's intention to give his club a competitive advantage for the next three seasons, with the Bristol director of rugby putting significant emphasis on the importance of a core group of players 'instinctively knowing the Bears way' due to having a large number of appearances under their belts.
To stay within budget next season, the Telegraph reports Bristol intended to release six players whose contracts were worth an estimated £400,000, but the club have missed the deadline to release them meaning the third-year extensions had already kicked in.
To make matters worse for last season's table-toppers, the publications reports that even if players are paid off, that would still count against the salary cap, so Bristol are now having to make savings wherever they can which appears to mean Lam is having to lose players he didn't want to.
On Thursday the club confirmed the departure of former England international lock Dave Attwood, with both parties known to be keen on keeping him at Ashton Gate beyond this season. Attwood, 34, joins Bath on a two-year contract.
Meanwhile former England number eight Nathan Hughes also confirmed this week that he is joining French Top 14 side Clermont next season. And earlier in the week, The Rugby Paper reported centre Antoine Frisch, winger Luke Morahan fly-half Tiff Eden and backrower Mitch Eadie could all depart at the end of the season.
Bristol had already committed to signing England loosehead prop Ellis Genge, Sale fly-half AJ MacGinty and Scotland international backrower Magnus Bradbury ahead of next season before the administrative error came to light in March.
The salary cap is effectively being squeezed further ahead of the 2022/23 season, with clubs going down from two marquee players - whose wages count outside the salary cap - to one, and as such there are already murmurs around Bristol that former All Black full-back Charles Piutau could be moving on at the end of the season.
Piutau is widely reported to be one of the highest-paid players in the Premiership.
Lam, and chief executive officer Mark Tainton, will certainly be doing everything within their powers to ensure the club don't breach the salary cap, with Leicester Tigers found guilty of doing so just earlier this month.
An investigation found Tigers failed to disclose payments to image rights companies of the players in each of the seasons between 2016-17 and 2019-20, and they were fined £309,841.06.
Of course, Saracens were found guilty of being the league's worst salary cap offenders and in 2020 were relegated from the Premiership in punishment as well as being fined £5.4m for three seasons of overspending during which time they dominated domestically and in Europe.
The 33 players who signed undisclosed length contract renewals at Bristol in the summer of 2020, are: Jake Woolmore, Yann Thomas, Harry Thacker, Will Capon, Bryan Byrne, Kyle Sinckler, John Afoa, Max Lahiff, Jake Armstrong, Dave Attwood, Ed Holmes, John Hawkins, Chris Vui, Joe Joyce, Steven Luatua, James Dun, Dan Thomas, Jake Heenan, Nathan Hughes, Mitch Eadie, Andy Uren, Harry Randall, Callum Sheedy, Tiff Eden, Siale Piutau, Sam Bedlow, Piers O’Conor, Siva Naulago, Alapati Leiua, Luke Morahan, Charles Piutau, Henry Purdy, Toby Fricker.
Of course circumstances have changed for some players since then, with Siale Piutau leaving the club for a lucrative move to Japan while Samoan star Vui and England international Randall have signed new, further contract extensions during the course of this season.
Bristol Bears have declined when approached for comment.
