Rugby:Saracens director of rugby Brendan Venter has been found guilty of "conduct prejudicial to the interests of the Union" for comments he made about Guinness Premiership referee David Rose.
Venter last night faced the charges in front of a Rugby Football Union (RFU) disciplinary panel and was handed a four-week ban from match day coaching, suspended until December 31st, 2010.
He was alleged to have questioned the integrity of Rose in comments he made following Saracens' 22-15 Premiership defeat to Leicester at Vicarage Road on January 2nd.
The former South Africa centre will also have to make a public apology to Rose and pay costs of €288.
The RFU decision read: "Brendan Venter was found guilty of an amended charge in relation to his post-match comments on January 2nd, 2010 after Saracens had lost against Leicester Tigers.
"He was guilty of conduct which was prejudicial to the interests of the Union in that he, whilst taking part in a BBC interview, implied criticism of the match referee by stating that he believed the referee had been influenced at half-time without any further explanation so that a listener might conclude the influence had been improper."
Venter had voiced his opinion that Rose had been swayed during half-time of his side's defeat, citing a heavy turnaround in the number of penalties conceded by Saracens following the interval.
Venter had said during the BBC radio interview: "I think the referee was influenced at half-time, and that's all I can think.
"All I know is something happened at half-time, the game changed."
The RFU's case documented that Venter "had not raised any issues about the decision making before, during or after the match and he (Rose) had not been informed at half-time by any other match official that Saracens wished to bring any concerns about his refereeing to his attention".
During Guinness Premiership games both sides are allowed to submit "Half-Time Referee Communication" cards to the fourth official, which are then brought to the attention of the referee.
The panel's ruling stated: "David Rose said he was not aware of any such communication from either side at half-time in this match.
"He said that during half-time the match officials agreed that he needed to be sharper at the breakdown and ensure chasing players were not in front of the kicker.
"In the second half Leicester became more dominant in the scrum and that led to Saracens giving away more penalties."
However, the ruling "accepted that Venter did not intend to attack the integrity of the referee and he specifically said later in the interview that he did not believe that referees operating in the Guinness Premiership were dishonest".
The ruling continued: "However, there was an implication in the BBC question that the referee had been improperly influenced at half-time and the way in which Venter answered that question was likely to have left the listener with the impression that this was the case.
"The panel therefore amended the charge to reflect that finding and found him guilty of 'implying criticism of the match referee by stating that he had been influenced at half-time'.
-PA