Australia’s Brett Robinson has been elected as the new chair of the World Rugby governing body, becoming the first chair from the southern hemisphere.
Robinson won a final round of voting amongst the World Rugby Council, securing 27 votes against the 25 secured by Abdelatif Benazzi from France.
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Ex-Australia international Robinson will succeed Bill Beaumont, with former England captain Beaumont now stepping down after eight years in charge at the rugby union body (only two terms are permitted as World Rugby chair).
The new World Rugby chair has been on the body’s executive board since 2016, and was nominated for chair by Australia, and seconded by the English Rugby Football Union.
Andrea Rinaldo from Italy was eliminated from contention earlier in the election process.
Robinson, 54, who will serve a four-year term, has now said: “I congratulate those elected today and extend my best wishes to those who had the courage to run for office but were not successful. I look forward to now getting to work with the new World Rugby executive board, Alan [Gilpin, the World Rugby chief executive] and the World Rugby executive and my colleagues in the member unions.”
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By GlobalDataHe has said he will look to deliver: financial sustainability; prudent execution of World Rugby’s growth agenda; competitions that “drive audience engagement and commercial outcomes”; fan and player growth; and a fit-for-purpose governing body.
After playing for the Australian national team, the Wallabies, 16 times between 1996 and 1998, Robinson’s career involved a stint managing Australia’s high-performance unit from 2002 to 2005.
He is also a qualified doctor.
In an interview with BBC Sport prior to the election, Robinson said that if World Rugby does not move to take major games and tournaments to countries outside the game’s traditional heartlands “we will miss the opportunity.”
The first men’s Rugby World Cup to be held outside a traditional powerhouse of the game was the 2019 edition in Japan, with the 2031 edition set to take place in the US.
Robinson said in that interview: “In most of our core markets, particularly in the northern hemisphere, the growth opportunities are not as significant for the game as they are potentially in other parts of the world.”
He added, on the subject of the 2031 tournament: “We need alignment with our major unions about what we might take to the US and where we might go to have the cut-through and connections with fans.”
Jonathan Webb from England, meanwhile, was elected as vice-chair, from the six representatives elected to the World Rugby executive board.
