Former Saracens boss Brendan Venter remains "100 per cent committed" to his advisory duties at the Men in Black despite being appointed director of rugby at The Sharks.

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.

Venter will take up his post at the Sharks for the start of the Absa Currie Cup but Saracens insist the new role will not affect his work at the Men in Black.

A club statement wrote: "Brendan Venter remains 100% committed to his responsibilities as Technical Director at Saracens.

"The former Springbok has agreed to assist the Sharks provincial squad in Durban, but his ongoing role at Saracens is unaffected."

Venter was an integral part in Saracens becoming Premiership champions for the first time in 2011, although he left his role as director of rugby halfway through that season to return to South Africa, handing the post over to current boss Mark McCall.

McCall shares a good relationship with his predecessor, which chief executive Edward Griffiths believes underpins Venter's ongoing contribution to the club.

"Brendan speaks to the coaches and to Mark once a week which keeps him involved but he’s got that distance so he has a little bit of a helicopter view," Griffiths said.

"The other part of his continuing role is Mark’s attitude because most director of rugbys would be threatened by the previous director of rugby still being involved and having a view.

"But it works because of the strength of the relationship and because Mark sees him not as a threat but as an asset."

Venter maintains strong personal relationships with the Sarries first-team coaching staff and forwards coach Alex Sanderson says the South African's legacy is still very much alive.

Sanderson said: "As one of the pioneers of the revolution with Edward Griffiths four years ago Brendan is still our spiritual leader in many ways.

"A leader in terms of our values and what we're about and why we’re still on this incredible journey we keep saying we’re on.

"He put the moral values in place and he drummed them into the other coaches as his disciples.

"We keep carrying that message through and it works, it’s a process we keep to because we know it has longevity.

"He continues to enthuse us as coaches – he gives us energy and he promotes lateral thinking in what we do and what we’re about."

Venter will join up with former Saracens hooker John Smit, who left the Men in Black at the end of last season to become CEO at the Sharks.