Venter may face charges over referee comments

THE English RFU is to investigate whether Saracens director of rugby Brendan Venter should face charges of bringing the game into disrepute for his comments about referees.

Venter last night launched an extraordinary attack on the performance of referee David Rose and the standard of officiating in general following Saracens' 22-15 defeat to Leicester.

He stated the "lottery" of referees' decision-making was killing attacking rugby. On Rose's performance, Venter was furious with the amount Saracens were penalised in the second half and he seemed to imply the referee had been influenced during the interval. The RFU last night branded Venter's diatribe "highly inappropriate" and revealed an investigation would be launched.