Saracens boss Mark McCall is thankful an independent disciplinary committee have not ended the embattled club’s European Champions Cup title defence.
Sarries, already relegated from the Premiership for salary cap breaches, were at risk of being removed from European competition for fielding ineligible player Titi Lamositele.
The club, who were fined, argued “an administrative oversight” was to blame.
Sarries will “look forward to” their quarter-final at Leinster, said McCall.
USA international prop Lamositele’s work permit expired the day before he featured in Saracens’ final European Champions Cup pool match against Racing 92 in January.
Instead of a possible points deduction which could have seen them fail to qualify from the pool phase, Saracens were fined 50,000 euros (about £42,000), half of which is suspended until the end of the 2020-21 season.
McCall added: “Titi has been at the club since he was 18 and has played however many games for Saracens so there was a difference between this case and other ineligible player cases in Europe.
“And thankfully I think the committee agreed with that and thought the fine was what was appropriate.
“Everyone knows Titi has been part of the club for a long time and played in five pool matches as well.
“In other cases the player wasn’t even in the European Cup squad. Titi was in our European Cup squad.”
Saracens’ quarter-final at Aviva Stadium on Saturday, 4 April will be a repeat of last season’s Champions Cup final, which Sarries won 20-10 in Newcastle.
Article courtesy of BBC Sport
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