English and European champions Saracens have been docked 35 points and fined over £5 million ($6.5 million) for breaching the Premiership Rugby salary cap over several seasons, Premiership Rugby announced on Tuesday.

Saracens - who provided nine of the England squad including captain Owen Farrell that reached last Saturday's Rugby World Cup final - had been subject to a nine-month investigation.

The club immediately announced they would file an appeal against the sanctions.

Following a five-day hearing in September and October, an independent three-man panel, headed by a distinguished former judge, adjudicated that Saracens had contravened the salary cap which is set at £7 million a year. "The decision of the Independent Panel is that Saracens Rugby Club failed to disclose payments to players in each of the seasons 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19," read a statement from Premiership Rugby.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2019