Venter decision now set for Wednesday
January 20 2010
Brendan Venter faces a nervous wait before finding out whether he will be sanctioned over his criticism of referee David Rose.
The Rugby Football Union disciplinary panel has reserved its judgement in the case until Wednesday afternoon.
Saracens' Director of Rugby appeared before the panel on Tuesday charged with "conduct prejudicial to the interests of the game" after criticising the performance of referee David Rose following his side's 22-15 Guinness Premiership defeat against Leicester on January 2.
The RFU confirmed in a short statement they will release a full written decision at 4pm today.
It is alleged that Venter questioned Rose's integrity after the 41-year-old was left bemused by what he perceived to be a turnaround in the way the match had been officiated.
Saracens Chief Executive Edward Griffiths said at the time of the charge: "The club will mount a vigorous defence.
"Brendan offered an impassioned, rational and widely supported analysis of problems currently facing the game.
"He did not question the integrity of the referee at any stage and in fact, on the contrary, stressed on several occasions he does not believe any of the officials are dishonest."
Some have questioned the manner in which Venter chose to make his comments, and his decision to reveal that RFU referees' assessor Tony Spreadbury had admitted in a confidential meeting that 25 refereeing mistakes had been made during his side's defeat against London Irish in December.
But he has also won support for drawing attention to the troublesome breakdown area and the difficulties referees face officiating such a chaotic area of the modern game.
"The penalty count in the first half was 9-3 to Sarries. The penalty count in the second half was 10-4 to Leicester," said Venter following the game.
"We asked the referee to keep everything the same in the second half. Something happened to this poor referee and there was basically a 12-penalty swing.
"There was one referee in the first half, he walked through a maze or something, and he came out another referee.
"This is a professional game and this is a problem. I don't think referees are dishonest, we just do not have the ability to stay objective."
Venter has been specifically charged due to comments he made during the course of a BBC radio interview, in which he said: "I think the referee was influenced at half-time, and that's all I can think.
"All I know is something happened at half-time, the game changed."