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World Cup winner England coach Sir Clive Woodward has criticized Fiji and Samoa for their support of Sir Bill Beaumont in the election of World Rugby president who went into the ring.
The respected figure of rugby, writing in his latest Daily mail Column, he has also served the Six Nations while he is at it for his block endorsement of Beaumont, declaring that they had “disappointed the wider game.”
Woodward, who guided England to the 2003 world crown, noted that despite the final vote of 28-23 in favor of Beaumont, the incumbent president had essentially won the contest against Argentina’s progressive challenge Agustin Pichot by one vote.
With the Six Nations each having three votes in the heavy World Rugby system in favor of countries formerly known as “tier one,” Woodward wrote that “if Italy, a perennial underperforming, had voted in reverse, Gus Pichot would have taken the day “”.
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But the 2005 British and Irish Lions coach reserved perhaps his harshest criticism for the emerging nations of Fiji, Samoa, Canada and Japan, who allegedly backed the Beaumont campaign.
“If that’s the case, our sympathy will be limited if those nations file a complaint again about the lack of opportunity to play in T1 nations or, in the case of Pacific Island teams, about their best players who they were stolen from other countries, “Woodward wrote in his column.
“Or run out of virtually no money when they play England as 80,000 at Twickenham, matches that raised more than £ 14 million for the RFU. Players in those countries should be outraged and ask why their unions did not vote for the change.”
Woodward said it was “shameful” that only Six Nations Wales had met with Pichot to discuss his plans and proposals and pointed to the closed store approach of the northern alliance.
Shaun Botterill / Getty Images
Sir Clive Woodward has downloaded the World Rugby vote which has seen Sir Bill beaumont retained as President.
“The rest of the Six Nations have disappointed the broader game,” Woodward wrote in the Mail. “They have not been publicly involved in the debate and were always going to vote en bloc, for the status quo and their own financial interest.”
“They really don’t want the broader game to grow and improve, for there to be promotion and demise of the Six Nations, or for there to be some kind of democracy in the vote.”
“They don’t want their place at the top table to be threatened. Rugby will not go anywhere until its unnatural monopoly is broken.”
Woodward was also concerned about the cleavage that existed between the major northern and southern nations (which collectively supported Pichot) at a time when rugby’s financial situation was nearing the breaking point due to the Covid-19 pandemic. .
“That division is not healthy, there is no joint thinking among the largest nations; there is no genuine desire to grow the game elsewhere and let others in,” he wrote. “As a result, the world game will get smaller and smaller. The actual number of competitive nations never seems to increase, so many of them have nowhere to go and the odds are too much against them.”
Shaun Botterill / Getty Images
Clive Woodward says there is an ‘unhealthy’ divide between north and south over the game’s leadership.
“The global game has never been more exposed. The effects of Covid19 are going to be enormous. Rugby’s financial vulnerability has been cruelly exposed.”
“It means that England and France are probably the only two nations able to weather the financial storm. I can seem to be getting stronger and stronger as other countries fall at an alarming rate.”
Woodward also criticized the archaic governance system that gave leading nations such a dominant voice, questioning the allocation of three votes at the table to Italy, while Fiji and Samoa had only one and Tonga had none.
“I am not sure World Rugby is not infringing on the copyright that calls itself World Rugby. It is the same distribution that we have had for a century or more.”
“I wanted to wake up this morning with rugby energized about the future, a brave new world if you want. But instead you feel like always, the same as always. You will have missed a great opportunity.”
