Saracens will hold clear-the-air talks with their stars on Wednesday to try to find a way to move on from their salary cap-busting shame.
The rugby champions of England and Europe are still reeling from the 35-point deduction and £5.36 million fine slapped on them a fortnight ago.
In Paris yesterday they were handed one of their biggest ever Champion Cup defeats when beaten 30-10 by Racing 92.
Saracens captain Jackson Wray last night moved to dispel talk of a disillusioned squad, saying: “I haven’t seen an inch of divide. Not one.
“Obviously there were emotional rollercoasters going on last week, but in terms of player-to-player, player-to-coach, whatever, not one divide, because we’re in everything together, we’ve always been in everything together, through the good times and the bad times.”
The Londoners are set to announce they will not lodge an appeal against the sanctions despite condemning them as “heavy-handed”.
That will plunge them to the foot of the Premiership, 26 points adrift of the rest with just 18 matches to save themselves.
Team boss Mark McCall admitted players and staff were “all bothered” about the dire predicament the club finds itself in. He also wished out loud that the full disciplinary judgement could be published to paint a more accurate picture.
Wray conceded that in the same situation ”other teams may fracture” but insisted there is no anger within a club now labelled by many as cheats.
“You’d see that (anger) at teams where there are individuals,” said the flanker, who was making his 50th Champions Cup appearance.
“But you don’t grow a environment that we have overnight. It’s taken 10 years, it’s taken wins, losses, it’s taken everything you’ve seen. The core players have been there throughout that.”
