Here are the rugby evening headlines for Wednesday, December 15.
URC 'considering introducing salary cap'
The United Rugby Championship is considering introducing a salary cap to help its teams be more competitive across the board.
That's according to Rugby Union Weekly co-host and BBC rugby correspondent Chris Jones, who highlights a team like Leinster who can pay millions more collectively to its players than a team like the Dragons.
England's Gallagher Premiership and France's Top 14 leagues both operate with a salary cap, although there is not one in place for the European cup nor the URC, formerly the PRO14. England's salary cap was reduced to £5m for the 2021-22 season from £7m.
In the wake of Toulouse's heavy win over Cardiff, Racing's humbling of Northampton and Leicester's win in Bordeaux dominating European rugby highlights from the opening round, Jones was asked by Rugby Union Weekly co-host Danny Care if the competition was fair.
Jones told the podcast: "It's not, but you'll never get absolute fairness but while there isn't a European cup salary cap. The URC is not a fair competition because the URC doesn't have a salary cap and that's something they're looking at because the salaries that Leinster can pay compared to the Dragons, we're talking millions of pounds discrepancy.
"And the Premiership, with the higher cap of the last few years plus the marquees, you still could probably get £2million difference between the highest payers and the lowest payers. Because of the marquees, you could chuck the book out, you could find a way to still have a pretty powerful squad. But going down to one marquee, going down to £5million maybe won't be felt this season but... it could be felt in the next few seasons."
Care replied: "The forecast for the next couple of years in terms of the English league salary cap coming way down, I do feel if an English team wins the Champions Cup in the next couple of years it will be the greatest win."
URC chief executive Martin Anayi has previously said financial regulation will be needed in the future, but highlighted that a fixed salary cap would be difficult to manage in the URC given the various currencies, territories and ownership models involved across the league.
Covid outbreak forces Saracens to forfeit European game with Pau
Saracens have forfeited their European Challenge Cup game against Pau following a Covid-19 outbreak at the Gallagher Premiership club.
Tournament organisers European Professional Club Rugby said a 28-0 scoreline and five match points had been awarded to the French club, who were due to host Saracens on Saturday.
EPCR added that Saracens had informed them of a "significant number" of positive Covid-19 tests among their playing squad, meaning they could not safely fulfil the Pau fixture.
Saracens said that the outbreak had occurred within their training ground environment, reporting "several positive Covid cases" from a latest round of PCR testing on Monday.
In a statement, Saracens said: "The club has taken the immediate action of closing the training ground and isolating all players, coaches and support staff.
"We have been working closely with EPCR and PRL (Premiership Rugby) and it is with regret that our game versus Section Paloise (Pau) in the EPCR Challenge Cup on Saturday 18th December has had to be forfeited by Saracens due to our inability to field a 23-man squad for this fixture.
"In addition to positive Covid-19 cases, we have players self-isolating due to being close contacts, and a number of players who are currently injured.
"This is extremely disappointing for everyone at the club, but as always the health and well-being of our people is our priority at this time."
Saracens said that the squad would return to full training on December 24.
"We would like to reassure our supporters that our Gallagher Premiership fixture versus Worcester Warriors on 26th December will still take place," the club added.
Meanwhile, Bath have postponed training after returning a "very small number of positive results" and will only resume after the next round of testing.
Bath host La Rochelle at the Recreation Ground on Saturday after losing 45-20 at Leinster in their tournament opener.
Ellis Genge to leave Leicester
Ellis Genge will leave Leicester Tigers at the end of the season, it has been announced.
The Gallagher Premiership club confirmed Genge would not be activating an option in his contract to remain beyond the current season.
The 26-year-old has made 96 appearances for Tigers since his debut during the 2015/16 campaign as a loan signing from his hometown, Bristol.
The loosehead prop received a call-up to the national squad in 2016 after making the move to Leicester, gaining his first Test Cap in May against Wales.
Genge joined the club on a permanent basis ahead of the 2016/17 season and was appointed club captain ahead of the current campaign, replacing Tom Youngs in the role.
Genge follows George Ford out the door.
Leicester Tigers head coach Steve Borthwick said: "This is a personal decision for Ellis, which I know has not been easy for him, and, while disappointed, we respect his reasons for choosing to depart at season’s end.
"It has been a great privilege of mine to work with Ellis over the past five years, first with England and even more closely since I joined the club.
"We have a long way to go this season and Ellis is fully committed to finishing his time at Leicester Tigers in the same professional, passionate way he has represented Tigers during his six seasons at the club."
Genge added: "I’ll be forever grateful for what this club has given me. I’ve created lifelong friendships and learned a great deal.
"The club has been amazing in understanding my reasons for this decision and I will continue to give everything I have got for the boys and the fans of Leicester Tigers for the rest of this season."
Wasps back row Brad Shields banned for four weeks
Wasps' ability to field a competitive team for Sunday's Heineken Champions Cup trip to Toulouse has been hit by the suspension of Brad Shields for four weeks.
Shields was sent off in the 26th minute of last weekend's 35-14 defeat by Munster after referee Romain Poite deemed his tackle on Dave Kilcoyne to be dangerous, saying that he had struck the prop's neck with his shoulder.
The former England back row contested the red card at an independent hearing but it was found that he had "made contact with Kilcoyne's head and neck area in a dangerous manner".
The offence was considered mid-range in severity, resulting in a six-week ban that was reduced by two weeks because of Shields' good disciplinary record.
It wipes out his involvement in the second round of Europe this weekend, plus Gallagher Premiership fixtures against London Irish, Sale and Leicester.
However, the last week of the suspension will be waived if he successfully completes a World Rugby coaching intervention, making it possible for him to face the Tigers at the CBS Arena on January 9.
It is a major blow to Wasps, who are struggling to raise a team for their visit to the Stade Ernest Wallon due to an injury list that accounts for 17 players and an outbreak of Covid.
England to face All Blacks in next year's Autumn Nations Series
England will face New Zealand and two of their 2023 World Cup pool opponents as part of next year's Autumn Nations Series.
Eddie Jones' team kick off their 2022 autumn schedule against Argentina at Twickenham on November 6, followed by Japan six days later, with both countries in England's World Cup group.
They then host New Zealand on November 19, which will be a first meeting with the All Blacks since England beat them in the 2019 World Cup semi-finals.
The series is completed by England facing reigning world champions South Africa on November 26, the Rugby Football Union announced.
Head coach Jones said: "These fixtures will be a really important part of our preparation for the 2023 World Cup.
"It's almost a mini World Cup in itself, and we are fortunate to have it less than a year before the tournament.
"It will be a good litmus test for the team to see where we are at, culminating in playing first and second in the world.
"We saw how much of a difference having a full Twickenham Stadium was this autumn, and we can't wait to play a series of games against such quality opposition in front of our supporters."
Bath appoint head coach
Bath have announced the appointment of South African Johann Van Graan as head coach on a long-term contract from next season.
Van Graan's departure from his current position as Munster boss at the end of this season was confirmed by the Irish province on Tuesday.
Bath are currently bottom of the Gallagher Premiership following nine successive defeats, while they opened their Heineken Champions Cup campaign with a 45-20 loss against Leinster last weekend.
Bath said that Neal Hatley will continue as head coach through to the end of this season, leading a group that includes newly-appointed defence specialist Brent Janse Van Rensburg.
In a statement, Bath added: "Van Graan will be able to draw on significant expertise from the current coaching group. Specific roles and responsibilities will be communicated in due course."
Bath rugby director Stuart Hooper said: "Johann is a phenomenal coach with a proven track record of developing teams to be successful on the pitch.
"He has experienced winning rugby environments at the very highest level of the game and knows exactly what it takes.
"We have an outstanding and committed group of players and staff here at the club. Johann's experience will add significantly to this."
Bath chief executive Tarquin McDonald added: "We have huge ambition at Bath. Johann is a world-class coach who will play a fundamental role in our future success.
"He will hold full responsibility for our game, focused on delivering winning performances. I am delighted to announce this appointment."
Van Graan worked as South Africa forwards coach and played a key coaching role with the Pretoria-based Bulls, winning three Super Rugby titles before joining Munster four years ago.
"I am hugely excited for the opportunity to join Bath for the 2022-23 season. I see huge potential in this club, the players, coaches and staff," he said.
"I am coming to Bath to work with everyone, and to achieve great success with everyone at the club.
"This is an exciting next step for me as a coach, and for my family in moving to a proud club and a true rugby city."
Rob Baxter: Exeter will do everything they can to be competitive
Rob Baxter insists Exeter will continue targeting European honours in defiance of a reduced salary cap that he believes could accelerate the supply of English-qualified players.
Gallagher Premiership clubs are now operating under a lower wage ceiling of £5million after £1.4m was shaved off their spending capacity because of the financial impact of Covid, while the number of marquee player slots has also decreased from two to one.
Due to the way the reduction has been structured, it is not expected to start having an impact until next season when English teams will enter the Heineken Champions Cup from a position of weakness compared to their better-funded rivals from France and Ireland.
But Baxter will refuse to view Europe as a secondary consideration to the Premiership, even though the scope to sign high-quality overseas players is vastly diminished.
"We will do everything we can to be competitive. We are certainly not thinking of throwing in the towel in Europe over the next couple of seasons," the director of rugby said.
"I want to create and be part of a team that is competitive every year regardless of what the salary cap is, it's just a slightly different challenge now. It may be something that makes us stronger in two years' time.
"If the majority of clubs spend the next two years focussing on development and if we then move back to the £6.4m cap and back to having two marquee players, it could be a very bright period for those English clubs in Europe.
"The reduction makes the Premiership way less competitive when it comes to southern hemisphere signings.
"Some of the base salaries in Australia and New Zealand are probably comparable to what we could pay before when we could be very competitive. That is not really the case now.
"Whether that will change over the next two years I'm not sure, but it will put an onus on the development of players. It could be that in two years' time you have got a raft of English-developed players.
"We are looking at the positives and we are going to spend a couple of years recruiting good value players who we think are going to add to what we are doing here."
Exeter opened their Champions Cup campaign by dismantling Montpellier 42-6 and on Saturday they visit Glasgow as they target a place in the knockout phase of a tournament they won in 2020.
While Covid is once again disrupting European competition, it was an outbreak of flu that has affected preparations for the Scotstoun clash.
"We've had one round of it go through the club. We didn't get the guys in on Monday - we took a flu break to try and keep them away from each other for a couple of days," Baxter said.
"The last couple of years have thrown up challenges and you can't use that as an excuse for chopping and changing, we should all be used to it.
"We have told every member of the squad to make sure they turn up on Friday morning with a bag ready to play because we don't know how many changes we will have to mahursday's round of testing.
"We might suddenly lose five players, but we can still take 23 to Glasgow and those guys have got to get on the plane. You have got to roll with the punches."
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