Saracens coach Brendan Venter seems set to face disciplinary action after criticising the performance of referee David Rose following the English Premiership leaders' 22-15 loss away to Leicester.
Venter said Rose had been a different referee in the second half of Saturday's match at Welford Road and the former Springbok went on to slam the overall standard of officiating in the Premiership, which he said was a main factor in the general lack of tries this season.
Saracens were 9-3 up at the break only for Leicester, on the back of a powerful scrum performance by their pack, to hit back after the break.
The Tigers saw England fly-half Toby Flood prove a major thorn in Saracens' side with a haul of 17 points from penalties plus a conversion of Test colleague Dan Hipkiss's try.
"The penalty count in the first half was 9-3 to Sarries. The penalty count in the second half was 10-4 to Leicester," said Venter.
"I didn't say to my team: 'Look boys, we are leading, let's cheat more'," the South African added.
"We asked the referee to keep everything the same in the second-half.
"For some reason, something happened to this poor referee and there was basically a 12-count penalty swing.
"There was one referee in the first-half, he walked through a maze or something, and he came out another referee.
"I want to look at the opposition, shake his hand and say, 'you out-thought us, you out-played us, you out-muscled us, well done'. That is not what I can do today," Venter insisted.
"This is a professional game and this is a problem. I don't think referees are dishonest, we just do not have the ability to stay objective."
Earlier this week Venter received an apology from Rugby Football Union referees' chief Ed Morrison, for the performance of referee Dean Richards in Sarries' loss to London Irish last week.
Venter said referees ought to prepare for matches in the same away as coaches and players.
"There is a problem out there and that is the game is determined by referees and not by rugby teams," he said.
"I just think there is no idea what is going on out there. We are professional, we look at rugby games. For us, it is important.
"We sat with the referees this week and went through the entire London Irish game and watched every single breakdown.
"London Irish had 25 offences (missed) last week, we had one. The words were: 'Sorry, we got it unbelievably wrong.'
"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?
"Everybody says: 'Why don't you play a lot of rugby?'
"I go: 'Maybe 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."
In the day's other Premiership matches, Bath beat bottom of the table Leeds 20-15, Gloucester drew 13-13 with Worcester and Northampton moved up into second place thanks to a 24-22 win over London Irish secured by Chris Ashton's last-minute try.
Copyright 2010 AFP Global Edition
