Saracens have announced that Brendan Venter has stepped down as director of rugby and taken on the new role of “head of rugby culture and wine consultant” after the club were fined £5,000 for failing to fulfil media duties.
Venter, 56, succeeded Mark McCall as Saracens' director of rugby at the end of last season but is said to have stepped down from the position last month with immediate effect.
Media duties breach
Head coach Joe Shaw has now assumed responsibility for the club's media commitments, with Saracens telling Prem Rugby that Venter has moved into a different role, according to The Telegraph.
The development comes after Venter failed to attend a pre-season content capture day designed to promote the league earlier this month. He then missed a media session last week ahead of Saracens' opening match against Leicester Tigers, resulting in a further suspended £500 fine.
The club were warned that any further breaches would result in fines rising to £1,000 and then £2,000. Saracens subsequently received a £5,000 fine, although the club are disputing the punishment.
New role and wine expertise
Prem Rugby's commercial regulations state that each club's director of rugby must attend a midweek media session, take part in a pre-match or flash interview and attend the post-match press conference on match days. Saracens say they had already asked for permission in July for Shaw to handle their media commitments.
The club have also stressed that their rugby leadership structure is similar to several other Premiership clubs, with responsibility centred around the head coach rather than a director of rugby.
Venter's new position will see him provide support around Saracens' culture, values and wider development of the playing and coaching environment. The former Springbok has a well-established interest and expertise in wine, with his knowledge already being used to select wines for hospitality boxes at Saracens' StoneX Stadium.
Wine-tasting events
He has also been booked to host a wine-tasting event next month for wealth management firm Evelyn Partners, one of the club's sponsors. Former Saracens full-back Alex Goode has even been enlisted to assist him as a sommelier.
Venter's new role has echoes of another high-profile rugby figure's unconventional duties. South Africa head coach Rassie Erasmus famously acted as the Springboks' water boy during the 2021 British and Irish Lions tour of South Africa.
Venter has previously spoken about his approach to wine and how he has used it to reinforce his rugby philosophy. In an interview with the Telegraph in July, he described using a blindfolded wine-tasting exercise to demonstrate his belief that players should be selected on current form rather than reputation.
His reluctance to take part in regular media duties also has some history. During his previous spell in charge of Saracens, Venter received a number of fines for his post-match comments. One of his most famous media appearances came after Saracens' defeat by Racing Métro in Europe, when he delivered a series of deliberately deadpan responses in an interview with Sky Sports. Among his brief answers was the now-infamous: “Three cheers for Sireli Bobo.”
Venter has now suggested that the change of role could even give him the chance to meet rugby journalists on his own terms. “I am anxious that the rugby journalists do not think I like them and so I have asked our CEO Ed Coetzee to issue invitations to all the rugby journalists we are aware of and invite them to a wine-tasting at StoneX Stadium next month,” he said. “I am happy to respond to any questions that they wish to ask me over a glass of wine.”
