CAPE TOWN – Bill Beaumont was on Saturday re-elected as World Rugby chairman, defeating Argentina’s Augustin Pichot by 28 votes to 23.
The 68-year-old former England lock has served in the position since 2016, and many had expected the former Argentina scrumhalf to usurp him in Saturday’s vote.
However, Beaumont was elected to serve a second term after one round of voting.
“I am honoured to accept the mandate of the World Rugby Council to serve as the international federation’s Chairman once again and would like to thank my union and region colleagues, members of the global rugby family and, of course, my family for their full support," Beaumont said in a statement after his re-election.
“I would like to thank Gus for his friendship and support over the last four years. While we stood against each other in this campaign, we aligned in many ways, and I have the utmost respect for him. Gus is passionate about the sport and his contribution has been significant.”
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/BillBeaumont?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BillBeaumontre-elected as World Rugby Chairman https://t.co/HkVxwjzB7y pic.twitter.com/45NhsMfzfO
— World Rugby (@WorldRugby)
Beaumont has called on the organisation to get to work, deliver the sport’s response to mitigate the Covid-19 pandemic and implement progressive change.
“Over the last four years we have achieved a lot, but we are at half-time and need to press on in the second half. I now have a clear mandate to work with Bernard to implement progressive, sustainable change.
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/WorldRugby?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@WorldRugby
— Sir Bill Beaumont (@BillBeaumont)
This is a developing story