THE Rugby Football Union are to investigate whether Saracens director of rugby Brendan Venter should face charges of bringing the game into disrepute for his comments about referees.

Venter 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.

The former South Africa international stated the ‘‘lottery’’ of referees’ decisionmaking was killing attacking rugby – and he effectively accused officials of lacking the same professionalism as the players and coaches.

On Rose’s performance in particular, 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.

Venter revealed he had received an apology from the RFU for the performance of referee Dean Richards in Saracens’ defeat to London Irish last weekend.

The RFU yesterday branded Venter’s diatribe ‘‘highly inappropriate’’ and revealed an investigation would be launched.

Venter’s rage was sparked by what he felt was a different approach from Rose after half-time in the top of the table Guinness Premiership clash.

But it was his wider accusations, about referees’ professional standards and their influence on the game, which have caused the most concern inside Twickenham.

Venter said: ‘‘There is a problem and that is the game is determined by referees and not by teams.

‘‘Everybody says: ‘Why don’t you play a lot of rugby?’ ‘‘I go: ‘RFUMaybe it’s just not worth it because it is a lottery’.

‘‘Everybody wants to know why the game is dying. Maybe that is why the game is dying.

‘‘I made a request this week for the referee to look at the video of our last game and Leicester’s last game but I was told they don’t normally do that.

‘‘If I can watch the opposition’s last five matches how come the referee doesn’t look at the last game and come prepared?’’ Rob Andrew, the RFU’s elite rugby director whose brief covers the development of referees, refuted Venter’s accusation and reminded the Saracens boss of his ‘‘professional responsibilities’’.

Andrew said: ‘‘We would like to say in the strongest terms that the RFU believes Mr Venter’s comments to be unfounded.

‘‘We have one of the most advanced elite refereeing development programmes in world rugby and a number of our referees are on international panels at all levels.

‘‘If there are concerns to be expressed then we have existing, and tried and tested, channels for doing so. However, we believe there is a wider issue here.

‘‘Respect is one of rugby’s core values which underpin our sport and that must include respect for the match officials at all times. We cannot go down the route where senior figures in the game do not demonstrate that respect.

‘‘It is part of all of our professional responsibilities, including those of directors of rugby.”