Wellington, New Zealand
New Zealand Rugby says it backed challenger Agustin Pichot against incumbent Bill Beaumont in the contest for the chairmanship of World Rugby out of frustration at the governance of the sport’s international governing body.
NZR Chairman Brent Impey said his organization has been frustrated for “many years” with World Rugby’s policies and direction and it supported Pichot, currently Beaumont’s deputy, as a reform candidate.
New Zealand, with SANZAAR partners Australia, South Africa and Argentina, support Pichot. However, Beaumont has the support of the Six Nations group — England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Italy and France — and is expected to amass the 26 votes he needs to remain chairman. The outcome of the election will be announced May 12.
Impey told New Zealand’s annual meeting this week he hoped the winner of the election would heed calls for change. “If you look back over many years, World Rugby has been very frustrating from a New Zealand perspective,” Impey said. “And I think the straw that broke the camel’s back was the Nations Championship, which we were strongly in favor of.”
World Rugby was unable to win the support it needed to establish the Nations Championship — a test championship involving all top tier nations — because of opposition from the Six Nations. New Zealand was a strong supporter of the championship and of a promotion-relegation system which would allow Tier Two nations such as Fiji to win promotion into the tournament.
Impey said New Zealand sought other reforms which Beaumont was reluctant to push in the face of northern hemisphere opposition.—AP
