Ex-Saracens boss has his say on club's threatened automatic relegation
Former director of rugby Brendan Venter has said that there is an agenda against Saracens who are facing the threat of automatic relegation. However, he is backing them to “overcome this” and “come back stronger”.
As revealed by RugbyPass on Thursday night, Saracens have been told they have a matter of days to comply with the salary cap or face automatic relegation from the Gallagher Premiership.
Despite being fined £5.36million and deducted 35 league points in November, Venter claimed on Twitter there is still an agenda among other clubs in England after it became “apparent that despite deduction they won’t get relegated this season”.
While not every club in England has been so vocal, there have been some who have insisted that Saracens should return their titles won over the past three seasons in which they have been found guilty of breaching the salary cap.
The South African, who is credited with being the catalyst to Saracens’ era of success after arriving at the club in 2009, also said: “The good news is that Saracens is a club with a great culture of looking after people.
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“They have taken a big knock but in these times character kicks in. Watch them overcome this, keep the team together and come back stronger. Life is way more interesting with challenges.”
He signed off by pointing the finger at other clubs across England, suggesting Saracens are not alone in what they have done – “various other clubs have been doing some creative accounting to stay within the cap”. This is what he shared:
For those that still believe there was no hidden agenda by the clubs i will give you a timeline of events and then you will understand that Some clubs wanted an opportunity to win something and some wanted to prevent relegation. Everybody had an agenda. https://t.co/jKMkrr15Hk
— Brendan Venter (@BrendanVenter) January 17, 2020
Timeline. Saracens get charged with breaking the cap.They dispute it and lose.This only happens in this current season. Get a fine and points reduction. When it becomes apparent that despite deduction they wont get relegated this season is questioned. How could they correct it?
— Brendan Venter (@BrendanVenter) January 17, 2020
They then ask for an opportunity to correct it before 31 Jan. The clubs refuse. This would have put Saracens within the cap legally for the year. Granted with a bit of luck because of injuries but nevertheless in the cap. Now tell me there was no agenda from the start ?
— Brendan Venter (@BrendanVenter) January 17, 2020
The good news is that Saracens is a club with a great culture of looking after people. They have taken a big knock but in these times character kicks in. Watch them overcome this,keep the team together and come back stronger. Life is way more interesting with challenges.
— Brendan Venter (@BrendanVenter) January 17, 2020
The thing i am now looking fwd to most is when the Daily Mail latches on to the fact that various other clubs have been doing some creative accounting to stay within the cap. Will all the haters stay loyal to their moral compasses. This story far from over yet.
— Brendan Venter (@BrendanVenter) January 17, 2020
Yes. I honestly think Edward and Mark will keep the team together. The problem is much smaller than you think. The cap not as big a problem as others think. We will keep our kids. Look after our stars and come back stronger the next year.
— Brendan Venter (@BrendanVenter) January 17, 2020
While the former World Cup winner did show his utmost confidence in reigning European and English champions bouncing back from this ordeal, he did not explicitly say whether the London side will avoid relegation this season.
With the looming possibility that Saracens may need to rapidly unload many of their stars to ease their wage bill, Venter still thinks they will “keep kids” and “look after stars”.
What is certainly true – and was noted by the former centre – is that “this story is far from over yet”.
WATCH: Going Pro, the behind the scenes RugbyPass documentary with Saracens women’s rugby team
Comments on RugbyPass
I am really looking forward to Leigh Halfpenny playing his first Super rugby game for the Crusaders Playing a long side his former Welsh and Scarlets team mate Johnny McNicoll.Johnny has been playing great, back in a Crusaders jersey.The attack has strengthened big time. Also looking forward to David Havili at 10. David is a class act, it also allows Dallas McLeod to remain at 12. A good thing.
1 Go to commentsIf he had stopped insisting on playing in the backrow, instead of wing, where everyone told him he should, he would have been a Bok years ago….
11 Go to comments‘Salads don’t win scrums’ 😂 I love that.
19 Go to commentsCan’t wait for the article that talks about misogyny in Ireland. Somehow.
16 Go to commentsI would like to see a rule change, when the attacking team is held up over the try line, by allowing the defensive team to restart a goal line drop out releases the pressure for the defensive team, but what if the attacking team had to restart a tap 5m out from the defensive team it gives the attacking team to apply more pressure, there are endless options for the attacking side and it will keep the fans in suspence.
2 Go to commentsLess modern South African males predictably triggered.
16 Go to commentsMy heart is with Quins, but the head is convinced Toulouse have too much. Ntamack is back, his timing and wisdom has been missed.
1 Go to commentsWow, what a starting line up for the Sharks) Tasty up front,kremer vs Tshituka or venter …fiery ,,Lavannini ,,will he knobble etzebeth? Biggest game for belleau?
1 Go to commentsIt was rubbish to watch, Blues weren’t even present. Did what they had to do, nothing more. Should be better next week against canes.
1 Go to commentsI’ve just noticed that this match has an all-French refereeing team. Surely a game like this ought to have a neutral ref? Although looking at the BBC preview of the Saints game, Raynal is also down as reffing that - so there may be some confusion about who is reffing what.
1 Go to commentsIf Havili can play anywhere in the back line, why not first 5. #10.
11 Go to commentsThe dressing room had already left for their summer break before they ran out in Dublin that year, and that’s on the coach. Franco Smith has undoubtedly made progress, particularly their maul, developing squad players and increasing squad depth. And against a very tight budget too. That said they were too lightweight last year and got found out against both Toulon and Munster in consecutive games. Better this season so far but they’ve developed something of a slow start habit occasionally, most notably losing at home to Northampton who played them at their own game. Play offs will ultimately show whether there has been tangible progress on last year, or not…!
2 Go to commentsAustralian Rugby has been a disaster, by not incorporating learning from previous successful campaigns. QLD Reds 2011 - Waratahs 2014. Players, coaches and administrators appoint there representatives for scheduled meetings, organisation’s agreement’s assessments and correspondence. This why a unified Rugby Union under one entity works. Every Rugby nation has taken that path. Was most difficult in the Northern hemisphere with over 100 years of club rugby before the game become professional. Took a lot of humility for those unions to eventually work together.
7 Go to commentsThough Wilson’s sacking was pretty brutal, it wasn’t just down to that Leinster game; Glasgow had a lot of 2nd half collapses that season, in the URC and Europe, and only just scraped into the playoffs. Franco Smith has definitely been an improvement, some players are delivering far more than they did under Wilson.
2 Go to commentsjesus - that front 5!
1 Go to commentsShould be an absolute cracker of a game! Will be great to see DuPont & Ntamack in tandem once again🔥
1 Go to commentsBest team ever…. To have played? These guys are still pressure chokers. Came nowhere when it counted. What a joke
84 Go to commentsMusk defends anonymous terrorism, fascism, threats against individuals and children etc etc But a Rugby club account….lock ‘em up!!!
2 Go to commentsActually the era defining moment came a few years earlier. February 2002 to be precise, when Michael D Higgins as finance minister at the time introduced his sports persons tax relief bill to the dial. As the politicians of the day stated “It seems to be another daft K Club frolic born in Kildare amongst the well-paid professional jockeys with whom the Minister plays golf” and that the scheme represented “a savage uncaring vision of Ireland and one that should be condemned”. The irfu and Leinster would be nowhere near the position they are in today without this key component of the finances.
5 Go to commentsIt is crystal clear that people who make such threats on line should be tried and imprisoned. Those with responsibility in social media companies who don’t facilitate this should be convicted. In real life, I have free speech to approach someone like Reinach and verbally threaten him. I am risking a conviction or a slap but I could do it. In the old days, If someone anonymously threatened someone by letter the police would ask and use evidence from the postal system. Unlike the Post, social media companies have complete instant and legal access to the content in social media. They make money from the data, billions. Yet, they turn a blind eye to terrorism, Nazi-ism and industrial levels of threats against individuals including their address and childrens schools being published online all from ananoymous accounts not real people. They claim free speech. Free speech for anonymous trolls/voilent thugs threatening people under false names? The fault is with the perps but also social media companies who think anonymous personas posting death threats constitutes free speech.
2 Go to comments