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Agustín Pichot has confirmed is candidacy for World Rugby Chairman. The position is the leading role in administrating the sport of rugby. Pichot is currently the Vice-Chairman behind England’s Bill Beaumont.
The closing date for candidates is this Sunday, April 11. The voting itself will take place on April 26 via an electronic secret voting format.
Beaumont and Pichot are the current Chairman and Vice-Chairman. They have held the positions since 2016. This means that Beaumont is seeking re-election and Pichot will run against him. Beaumont is to run together with France’s Bernard Laporte.
The Beaumont-Laporte combination is a traditional candidacy. The pairing are a conservative option to retain what is often referred to as rugby’s Old Boys club.
Pichot is to be the progressive alternative; a candidate to bring about change. With this in mind Sergio Stuart, writing for Olé reports that it is to be a Six Nations centered bloc backing Beaumont and Laporte against a Southern Hemisphere centered bloc backing Pichot.
In running through the voting projections, Stuart notes that both groups have 22 votes out of a total of 51. In order to be elected, the winning candidacy will require 26 votes.
Stuart notes that Pichot will have all twelve votes from member nations of the Rugby Championship (Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa). Pichot will also have the regional votes of Africa, Asia, Oceania, and South America. In addition both Uruguay and Georgia are expected to vote for the former Puma captain.
On the other hand, Stuart lists Beaumont and Laporte as having the backing of the Six Nations Unions (England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales). They are the backbone of the English and French combined candidacy. Stuart also lists Japan and Europe’s regional votes as going to Beaumont and Laporte.
The remaining votes are deemed as being up for grabs. Stuart argues that Pichot should receive the backing of Fiji and Samoa, while Beaumont and Laporte are confident of gaining votes from Canada and Romania. Such a scenario would be 24 votes each. The three remaining votes are North America and the USA.
The International Rugby Board (IRB) was rebranded to World Rugby in 2014. Beaumont and Pichot were elected as Chairman and Vice Chairman in May 2016. Previous chairmen haver also all been from Six Nations unions. They are Vernon Pugh (Wales) from 1995-2002; Syd Millar (Ireland) from 2003-2007; Bernard Lapasset (France) from 2007-2016; and Bill Beaumont (England) from 2016-2020.
