Nonsense.

England winger Jonny May has launched a bizarre attack on the Sharks following Gloucester’s defeat to the Sharks in the Challenge Cup final last weekend.

The Sharks became the first South African team to win an EPCR competition with a 36-22 win over the Cherry and Whites and in doing so secure automatic qualification for the Champions Cup after a difficult season in the URC.

May started for Gloucester on the night and believes the Springbok-laded Sharks had an unfair advantage because of the salary cap in England, claiming the South African side’s salary was “three or four times more” than Gloucester’s.

“How do the English teams compete with the Irish teams, the URC teams with no salary cap or the French teams? That’s the sort of elephant in the room,” he said on The Good, The Bad and The Rugby podcast.

“How is it that the English teams are going to compete with clubs who are spending three times the amount on their squad?

“The team that Gloucester had out at the weekend – and we tried our best – their team financially must have been three or four times more expensive than our team.

“They were much the better team on the day. They showed up and, although we gave it a go, we couldn’t really get in the game, just because they had much more internationals and higher quality players it felt like.

“It comes down to money. It’s a South Africa pack, it’s a joke.”

Well, we’ve got some bad news for you, Jonny. While the URC itself does not have a similar salary cap to the Premiership, the South Africa Rugby Union has one set for their franchises, with the Sharks working off a relatively modest budget of around £3.5 million when you convert from Rand.

The English salary cap you ask? £5 million a season, before you add in the dispensation for marqueee players, etc.

Looks like it’s the other way around and you were just beaten by the better team on the night, Jonny.