Venter's dual role revealed
Brendan Venter is 100 percent committed to his responsibilities at both the Sharks and Saracens.
This website can now reveal that Venter, who was appointed as Director of Rugby at the Sharks on Tuesday, will have a dual role – which will see him continue as Technical Director at Saracens.
Saracens on Wednesday issued a statement to say they are holding on to the 1995 World Cup winner.
"Communicating with the coaches on a regular basis and travelling to north London at least once per month, Venter will continue to play an important role within the running of the club," Saracens said.
The Sharks responded by revealing that his position at Saracens will not affect his role at the Sharks.
"Yes, Brendan Venter, the new Director of Rugby at the Sharks, will have a role at Saracens," a spokesperson for the Sharks told this website.
"However, that [Saracens role] won't be a time-consuming position and he [Venter] remains fully committed to his role with the Sharks."
It means Venter will have a limited role to play in the on-field coaching side of things, with a head coach set to be appointed down the line.
Venter played a key role in the Saracens set-up when they became Premiership champions for the first time in 2011, although he quit his role as Director of Rugby halfway through that season to return to South Africa – after a fall-out over his relationship with the media and some public utterances.
He was replaced as Director of Rugby at Saracens by Mark McCall.
McCall shares a good relationship with his predecessor, which CEO Edward Griffiths believes shows Venter's ongoing contribution to the club.
Since stepping down from the top job at Sarries in January 2011, Venter has been fulfilling a consultancy role at the club, visiting the training ground once a month and offering advice to the coaching staff on a weekly basis.
New Sharks CEO John Smit, in his first big move at the helm of the franchise, created a Director of Rugby position and also informed coach John Plumtree that his contract won't be renewed.
However, Plumtree's actual position still has to be filled.
Smit, at Tuesday's media briefing, said appointing a head coach was something that was "a high priority in terms of the planning strategy going forward".
By Jan de Koning
