Champions Cup: Alex Sanderson believes English teams are hindered by lower salary cap

For the second successive season no team from the Premiership made it to the semi-finals of Europe’s premier club competition.

Both Leicester Tigers and Sale were comprehensively beaten by Leinster and Racing 92 respectively, raising questions about the quality of the English teams.

The salary cap currently stands at £6.4m, reduced from £7m in 2020, but will go down to £5m from the 2022/23 campaign.

And asked whether the cap has had an impact on the results, Sanderson responded: “Yes of course it does because you don’t have the money to sign the quality of players needed.”

However, the Sharks boss did suggest that, despite the financial disparity, Premiership teams can find ways of being competitive.

“There’s been a difference in the salary cap forever between the French and English clubs. When Toulon used to have a £20m salary cap and the English clubs were on £5-6m and yet they managed to win,” Sanderson said.

“You can make up the gap in the salary cap through really good coaching, decent infrastructure, and culture as well. You can bridge the gap through talent, through cohesion and decent coaching.”

Sale produced a good first half in their Champions Cup quarter-final against Racing, going 10-6 up at the break, but were torn apart in the second period, eventually succumbing 41-22.

“It’s really frustrating,” Sanderson added. “I don’t think you can argue with the result. You don’t win quarter-finals by shipping 40 points.

“It wasn’t for a lack of effort. Our set-piece, and our physicality for the most part was right up there, but some of our decisions gifted them some fast ball.

“We played into their hands in the second half, and the game went away from us.”

One of the Sharks’ chief tormentors was the outstanding