Is this what it looks like when Saracens do not have their salary cheating players and have to keep the cap? Is this what a non Wray team looks like?

I think they should be sanctioned for deliberately putting out a weakened team for their own ends.

I think they should be sanctioned for deliberately putting out a weakened team for their own ends.

To be fair we have done a lot wrong in the last few seasons, but playing a development team in a development team competition is fully what we should do.

The other teams in the competition can play who they like but the guys who got us to the semi deserved the start. Goode came in as returning from injury and Manu was with England u20.

This needs to be looked at for the future then. Maybe your squad for a development competition should be Cap Capped inasmuch as you are allowed only a certain number of Senior Level previous appearances.

If you did that we probably couldn't have put a team out against Exeter.

I think they should be sanctioned for deliberately putting out a weakened team for their own ends.

I think that's a bit silly given our team against ulster, especially given the prem Cup is supposed to be for development. Should we have been sanctioned for the team we put out in the lv semi against Bath a few years back?

How is anyone else affected? Its a semi final.

This is a tinpot. We are the ones who are remiss playing a strong team against Exeter's kids.

I'm sure I read somewhere at the beginning of this season that due to the World Cup and the late start of the Premiership proper the clubs had agreed that players who are normally first choice or thereabouts could have a run out. We seem to have more or less done that and it looks as if Sale have too.

Agree with this. In a normal season I'd say it would be pretty poor for a team to put out a largely full strength side, but this year the pool games were used as pre-season games, so clubs had to play some first choice players to give them game time. It doesn't mean you have to do so in the knockout stages admittedly, but in our case injuries rather forced our hand.

If we win with a full strength team I'll still be very happy as it's so long since we won anything, but it wouldn't be the same achievement as our younger players / squad players winning it in a normal year.

After the start to our season though, maintaining momentum was important and I suppose any win boosts confidence.

Didn't we field a young side for the semi vs a full strength Bath and the again in the final with a couple of injury returnees vs a full strength Sale?

We did indeed. IIRC Luke Wallace captained the side. The props were Kyle and Darryl Marfo who were just out of the Academy. And Kyle may still have been in the Academy