Saracens should consider themselves lucky – clubs like Harlequins have suffered for sticking to the rules I will not be alone in thinking the trophies and medals Sarries won while they broke the salary cap should be taken away from them

As soon as the announcement broke of Saracens’ salary-cap breach, I heard comment in the media about them being effectively punished for being good at developing young England talent. What were they supposed to do, someone asked – hand their England players back as they became too expensive to keep?

It made me laugh as there is a huge and rotten flaw in that argument.

I was head coach at Harlequins when we won the Premiership in 2012 – our club’s one English league title, whereas our London rivals Saracens have won it five times, all of them since 2011.

In our team of 2012, we developed Joe Marler, Chris Robshaw, Nick Easter, Danny Care, Ugo Monye and Mike Brown as our gifts to England.

We were propping English rugby up, as some say Saracens are doing now, and we had big decisions to make as the wages of our England players went up – inevitably, as their marketability went up – and we had to pay them far more.

We were faced with either getting rid of some of our high-profile England players or reducing the quality of our squad elsewhere, to stay within the Premiership salary cap.

I remember the contract renewal negotiations one year when we had huge decisions to make on backs with similar profiles – we could only sign three out of the four. So it was a case of the first to agree, and Ugo Monye, Mike Brown and Jordan Turner-Hall agreed. Last to come forward was David Strettle, so we couldn’t keep him and guess where he went? Saracens.

In 2013, we were unable to keep James Johnston, the Samoa prop who had been pivotal to our Premiership success, as we were outbid by Saracens once again.

Within the rules of the salary cap you are entitled to compensation from the Rugby Football Union for your players being away on England duty, in the form of financial credits up to £80,000 a player, per season, over and above the base salary cap. So rest assured, Saracens have been receiving significant credits which they can use to bring in additional players.

And now remember, too, at the time of Saracens’ first title in 2011, they were the club with one of the lowest England representations. They systematically stuck two fingers up to English rugby by buying in foreign troops left, right and centre to enable them to stay strong during international periods when the likes of Harlequins struggled without our England men.

I think the general consensus within the game is that the £5m-plus fine and the points deduction cannot rectify what has gone on for years. Frankly I have to say I will not be alone in thinking the trophies and medals Saracens won during the proven period should be taken away from them. It happened to Melbourne Storm in rugby league.

Finally, in relation to the level of punishment, consider this.

I was Director of Rugby at Richmond in 1999, when the club went into administration because the sole investor walked away.

The club was relegated all the way down to Division Nine of the leagues.

Saracens have been guilty of breaking the rules and docked 35 points. When you consider the comparison, Saracens might count themselves lucky with the punishment meted out.

John Kingston was speaking to Hugh Godwin