If the International Rugby Board and the top-tier unions are to attract referees of higher quality, they are going to have to pay them more, writes GERRY THORNLEY

BRENDAN VENTER has opened up a fair old can of worms. On foot of Saracens suffering their second defeat of the season, at home to Leicester on Saturday – a week after experiencing their first loss away to London Irish – the club’s head coach launched a 31-minute broadside about all manner of grievances over the state of the game, but with particular reference to refereeing standards, especially those in the Guinness Premiership.

A disrepute charge and punishment of some sort seems inevitable. In the course of his diatribe Venter publicly revealed the contents of a private meeting between himself and the English Rugby Football Union’s referees’ assessor Tony Spreadbury, on foot of which the RFU’s head of elite refereeing, Ed Morrison, issued an apology to Venter.

Saracens haven’t exactly been leaving an indelible imprint with their percentage brand of kicking rugby, though they are not alone, but to blame referees or even the rules for that matter, for all the game’s ills seems a tad harsh. In the five Premiership games played over Saturday and Sunday, there was the princely total of nine tries – as against 33 three-pointers from penalties and one drop goal. Even ITV’s edited highlights of some games were boring. Part of the problem may be fear of relegation to the relative oblivion the Championship is widely regarded as – and hence is often looked upon as liquidation.

Even more seriously though, while admitting “I really don’t think referees are dishonest”, Venter opined that most of them were simply not good enough, and did not prepare as professionally as players.

Venter is an articulate and bright coach, but like so many rants from coaches in the wake of a defeat (and funny, isn’t it, how it’s always in the wake of a defeat?) his comments would be a whole lot easier to take on board if they didn’t sound like sour grapes.

In a continuity sport, in which the breakdown is an ever-greyer area, there are always going to be 50-50 calls. Coaches and players make mistakes, so it’s inevitable referees will as well.

Nevertheless, what Venter said about declining standards of refereeing is the truth that dare not speak its name. It is something Matt Williams has previously tried to highlight, namely th critical shortage of good quality referees around.

You can be sure many other coaches out there think the same.

In effect, the first generation of elite, professional referees are coming to an end and some countries more than others are facing a problem coping with this. Take New Zealand, who in recent times have seen their cluster of five elite international referees drop to one after the retirements in quick succession of Paddy O’Brien (now the International Board’s referees’ chief), Paul Honiss, Steve Walsh (now refereeing in Australia) and Kelvin Deaker.

Even so, England are clearly putting plenty of resources into overseeing their transition, and while the over-rated Wayne Barnes and Dave Pearson are possibly not up to the standards of Chris White in his pomp or Spreadbury, the likes of Andrew Small, Greg Garner and JP Doyle look like they have the ability to become elite referees.

At the very top there are still plenty of good ones, with Alain Rolland, Mark Lawrence, Jonathan Kaplan and Bryce Lawrence ensuring the finale of the next World Cup oughtn’t to suffer, though in general it’s a moot point as to whether the advent of full-time professional referees has sparked an increase in standards.

Indicative of Ireland’s standing within this shrinking elite is there are now 16 referees on the international panel where before there was 25. And of this Ireland and South Africa provide four each – ie half.

However, Rolland and Alan Lewis cannot go on for ever, and on foot of George Clancy and Peter Fitzgibbon, the IRFU are also grooming the likes of John Lacey and Dudley Phillips – who oversaw the Ulster-Munster game after Lewis was deemed hors de combat because of a tooth abscess.

Efforts are being made elsewhere too, with Donal Courtney appointed full-time by the ERC as their refereeing chief and a reference point for all coaches, which hopefully will filter down to also improving standards in the Magners League, for as big a concern about the standards at the top in this transitional era is the secondary tier of refereeing, in other words for the Magners League, Premiership and Top 14.

Heineken Cup weekends invariably see an increase in the quality of rugby, and while this is partly because of the heightened sense of occasion, it’s also due to the competition pooling the best of the referees from six countries.

Joel Jutge was a serious loss to French and global refereeing, but he has succeeded Joel Dune as the FFR’s elite referees manager – in other words Owen Doyle’s counterpart – which will surely see a badly-needed increase in standards there.

Although there is no official retirement age, Chris White’s career will soon come to an end. A schoolteacher by trade, he would probably have been a headmaster or head games’ master by now but for becoming a professional referee. Which raises the question, why would someone with a professional career become a full-time referee in, say, his early 30s, until his late 40s, not least on an estimated €78,000-€80,000 per year? If the International Board and the top-tier unions are to attract referees of higher quality, they are going to have to pay them more than that.

Then again, neither Rolland nor Lewis are full-time. In the Southern Hemisphere, for example, such are the travelling demands on referees at Super 14 level they possibly have to be full-time, but this means they have the same small pool of officials on the treadmill.

Venter’s comments and, it has to be said, critiques from within the media, don’t exactly act as a recruitment tool either.

As with crowds, players and coaches have become even more streetwise in applying pressure on officials. The officials could help themselves, of course, by imposing penalties and additional 10 metres for dissent, off-the-ball sledging, etc. In the heel of the hunt though, rugby has a shortage of high calibre referees. It’s a cyclical thing, but if the game doesn’t replace the first generation of professional referees, there will be a crisis.