Injury Dispensation

[sapajo]

We have Dan Kelly and Nick Dolly both out due to long term injuries and Hegarty left without playing this season due to injury. Please can anyone tell me do Tigers qualify for injury dispensation for any of these players and if so how much? Reason I ask is that a lot has been made about how Bath funded 4 new players at this stage of the season ? Some have said that Bath must be using injury dispensation. It begs the question if Tigers do qualify for injury dispensation and with Hegarty having left and Nandolo due to leave shortly why have we only signed one new player (Atkinson) on a long term deal and Oghre on a short term deal when potentially we have more money to spend? Thank you

[Rugbygramps]

I think at least one of Horton and Taufetee were signed to cover Dolly. Horton now returning to Australia and Taufetee injured.

[TigerFeetSteve]

This is a quote from the regulations (technically regs from the 21/22 season)

Injured Player Credit
3.30. A Club is entitled to credits for the cost of replacing one or more Injured Players up to a maximum of £400,000 (“Injured Player Credit”), provided that on each occasion the Salary Cap Director approves the cost in advance in writing.
3.31. If the Injured Player is an Excluded Player, the cost of the replacement shall be included in the cap of £400,000.
3.32. A Club is only entitled to one Injured Player Credit per Senior Player per Salary Cap Year.
3.33. When applying for approval for an Injured Player Credit, the club must provide the Salary Cap Director with:
3.33.1. the name of the Injured Player;
3.33.2. details of the injury, including the length of time that the Injured Player is expected to be injured;
3.33.3. an Injury Certificate signed by the Club’s doctor; and
3.33.4. details of the proposed replacement, including the replacement’s proposed Salary and how long the replacement shall be a Player of the Club (“Injury Credit Period”).
3.34. The Salary Cap Director shall only approve an Injured Player Credit if the relevant criteria are met and he is satisfied that:
3.34.1. the replacement was not, and they had not agreed to become, a Senior Player of the Club from the time it became known that the Injured Player would not be able to play until the Salary Cap Director gives his approval; and 3.34.2. the replacement is comparable to the Injured Player in terms of position, Salary and experience, taking into account any mitigating circumstances, such as timing and prevailing market conditions.
3.35. If the Injured Player is selected for a match day squad in any competitive match during the Injury Credit Period, the entitlement to the Injured Player Credit shall be lost.
3.36. The Injured Player Credit can be no more than the Salary that was Paid to the replacement in a Salary Cap Year.
3.37. The Salary Cap Director has the power at any time to revoke or vary the Injured Player Credit to take into account any relevant information that they were not aware of or was false or misleading when the credit was approved.
3.38. If the Salary Cap Director does not approve the Injured Player Credit, or revokes or varies the Injured Player Credit, the Club may appeal the decision to the Salary Cap Governance Monitor, who shall make a decision within 7 days of receipt of a written submission from the Club setting out why the Salary Cap Director should have approved the application.

Hegarty could INSTEAD of the injury dispensation possibly be eligible for the section on "Excluded renumeration" ie. His entire salary this season... This is the regulations for that.

1.7. Remuneration for a Player who has not played or been a replacement for the Club in (i) any match in the Gallagher Premiership, European Challenge Cup, European Champions Cup, Premiership Rugby Cup or (ii) more than three matches in any other Competition1, provided that:
1.7.1. the Salary Cap Director is satisfied that the Player’s limited participation has been caused by an injury; and
1.7.2. the Club does not use an Injured Player Credit.

So to summarise we can claim injury credit for Dolly yes, that likely went to Horton who was signed short term.

Hegerty if we can show he was injured through till when he left then we get the whole of his salary clear from the cap just got to show he was definitely limited by injury (which is probably why we agreed an early release if he's approaching match fitness)

Kelly is tricky... we can sign someone, but if he's nearly fit then we don't qualify. We can't sign say a centre as injury dispensation the same week he returns... we'd have had to sign them at the start of the season. So we'd have had to sign a replacement a while ago to qualify IMO.

[GB72]

May also have to look at affordability. Just becuse we have the dispensation, we stll have to fund it, we still have to pay the injured player as well as find the funds for the salary for the injury replacement. In these tough times, and with the losses due to losing 2 home matches, maybe we just do not have the cash to pay for decent injury cover espcially if we have enough in the way of back up players in the squad to get us through a sticky patch.