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Brendan Venter and Schalk Brits, two of the architects of Saracens’ success, have dismissed fears that looming job and pay cuts will seriously undermine the club’s bid to avoid relegation from the Gallagher Premiership in the wake of the salary cap scandal.
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Venter, the former Saracens director of rugby, axed 18 players including All Black lock Chris Jack on what became known as “Black Monday” in 2009 as he dramatically changed the culture of a club that has since won five Premiership and three Heineken European Cup titles.
Brits, a member of South Africa’s 2019 World Cup-winning squad in Japan, spent a decade at Saracens and helped forge the close bonds that are now under strain by the need to cut costs and dismantle the squad.
The reigning English and European champions were fined £5.3million and docked 35 league points for failing to comply with the £7m salary cap over the last three seasons and Edward Griffiths, the interim chief executive, is currently working to identify how they can show the rest of the Premiership the club is operating within the cap.
Saracens are 18 points adrift at the bottom of the league and will face the next five rounds of Premiership games without their England players who will be involved in the Six Nations.
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Ellis Genge spoke to The Rugby Pod over the festive period in a brilliantly candid call. He spoke to Jim Hamilton and Andy Goode about his contract negotiations at Leicester Tigers and the way that he deals with scrutiny on Twitter
Wales full-back Liam Williams is heading back to the Scarlets while back row forwards Calum Clark and Michael Rhodes – plus Argentina prop Juan Figallo – appear likely to follow him out of the club as the wage bill is trimmed.
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It is a troubling time for everyone involved with Saracens but Venter told RugbyPass: “The team we took over 2009 was not the current side. It was a broken team full of rugby mercenaries. This team is a proper rugby team that has been galvanised over ten years and my hope for them is that they prove the world wrong and that it was not about money at Saracens. It was the way people treated us with respect and looked after our families.
The board of directors voted unanimously.
Nice touch from @ExeterChiefs https://t.co/nhcro1aaFC
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 6, 2020
“I am sure that the current group, even if they have to make sacrifices, will still perform and that will be the biggest compliment to Nigel Wray (the club owner) despite having to go through so much in a year. My message to the players, who are my friends, is that here is the best chance you are going to get to show the world it was not about money.”
Brits is also adamant the Saracens “family” will not be torn apart by the current problems and said: “There is always a bigger picture at Saracens and it is never just about rugby. It is also about how they look after their players and even if they let guys go they will make sure there is some other option.
“In 2009 there was the Black Monday when they got rid of a big portion of the squad but they tried to put those people in a position where they had another option and Saracens will never leave a player out on the street.
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EXCLUSIVE
New Saracens CEO Edward Griffiths tells @chrisjonespress that the club want to set right their finances ahead of deadlinehttps://t.co/vFGj6rE42F
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 6, 2020
“Even if Saracens go down – so what? It is the people that make a club and they will bounce back from this. The aim at Saracens wasn’t to win things, it was to make memories together and winning is a product of that.
“One thing is certain: at some point, you will have to stop playing rugby and Saracens is a club that thinks about the person and that is why I speak so highly of them.
“The guys they have in the squad means it has a great character and the beauty of the club is everyone will be taken care of from a future perspective. That is how they looked after me and when I joined I was asked what was my plan after rugby and worked with me on this.
“This is a club that brought in three days of training and said on one of the other days you either spend it with your family or get work experience to expand your next career. I worked in London because the club was concerned about my next career which starts here in South Africa on Monday.”
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Comments on RugbyPass
Billy's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
2 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
28 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
1 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
1 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
2 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to commentsInteresting article with one glaring mistake. This sentence: “And between the top four nations right now, Ireland, France, South Africa, and New Zealand…” should read: And between the top four nations right now, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France…”. Get it right wistful thinkers, its not that hard.
24 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
3 Go to commentsNice write up Nick and I would have agreed a week ago. However as you would know Cale & co got absolutely monstered by the Blues back row of Sotutu, Ioane and Papaliti and not all of these 3 are guaranteed a start in the Black jumper. He may need to put some kgs before stepping up, Spring tour? After the week end Joe will be a bit more restless. Will need to pick a mobile tough pack for Wales and hope England does the right thing and bashes the ABs. I like your last paragraph but I would bring Swinton, Hannigan into the 6 role and Bobby V to 8
28 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can still get in to the Play Off’s. The imminent return of outstanding captain Scott Barrett and his All Black team mate Codie Taylor will be a big boost.There are others like Tamaiti Williams too. Two home games coming up. Fellow Crusader fans get there and support these guys. I will be.
2 Go to commentsCant get more Wellington than Proctor.
3 Go to commentsWhy not let the media decide. Like how they choose the head coach. Like most of us we entrust the rugby system to choose. A rugby team includes the coaches. It's collective.
14 Go to commentsHi NIck, I have been very impressed with him and he seems a smart player who can see opportunities which Bobby V _(who must be an international 6_) doesn’t see or have the speed to take advantage of. If he continues to improve and puts on 5kgs then he could be a great 8. He is a bit taller than Keiran Reid at 1.93m and 111 kgs, so his skill set fits his body size and who knows where it will lead. I hope the spate of Achilles tendon issues have been dealt with by the S&C people. It’s been a very long time since Mark Loane and Kefu stood out at 8. The question is will we be able to hold onto him, if he does make it he will be pretty hot property. I disagree with the idea of letting them go to the Northern Hemisphere and then bring them back.
28 Go to commentsBilly Fulton 🤣🤣🤣🤣 garrrmon not even close
14 Go to comments