All Blacks wing Ben Smith has his children receive his medal from World Rugby chairman Sir Bill Beaumont, after their victory over Wales in the Rugby World Cup Bronze Final. Photo / Mark Mitchell.
All Blacks wing Ben Smith has his children receive his medal from World Rugby chairman Sir Bill Beaumont, after their victory over Wales in the Rugby World Cup Bronze Final. Photo / Mark Mitchell.
The Argentine upstart ran him close but in the end old money and politics won.
Bill Beaumont, the old England and Lions lock, was re-elected to the chairmanship of World Rugby not because of what he offers but because of what he doesn't represent – a threat to the primacy of the North.
Rugby's administration can be parodied as pitifully archaic; World Rugby's gatherings of "thinkers" more like a medieval Witan than a functioning meritocracy, with the lords and ealdormen of the Home Nations carefully dividing the silver as the serfs starve.
The fact that we are technically no closer to a global season now than we were a generation ago when it was first deemed a priority is all the evidence you need that rugby has been singularly incapable of moving with the times.
As morbid as it sounds, it was hoped the desperation brought on by Covid-19 might be reflected with similar desperation among rugby's voting bloc – the fairness of which is demonstrated by the fact that Scotland has three votes and Tonga none – but in Beaumont they opted to kick for touch in the opposition's half with a two-man overlap.
This might be unfair on Beaumont, a man who has given a large portion to his life for the Code, but when your first public utterance upon "winning" re-election is to emphasise that the Six Nations would not be touched, it says a lot about the benefits of mutual back-scratching.
Bill Beaumont during the 2019 Rugby World Cup Pool A match at Tokyo Stadium. Photo / Getty Images.
While Beaumont pledged Six Nations status quo, New Zealand Rugby chairman Brent Impey meanwhile shouted loudly from the cheaper seats, saying the game must change or the South will die.
This is not embellishment for effect, either. He actually said this while also offering support for Beaumont that could at best be described as tepid, at worst as rebellious.
"The reason New Zealand and the other Sanzaar countries voted against Bill is there's been no progress for a couple of years [in terms of] revenue sharing, eligibility or the rules of the game. Covid produces a chance for a total reset. While Bill has won and we've now got to support the winner that is on the condition that there is fundamental change," Impey shrieked.
"We can't carry on the way we're going. Look at the finances of Rugby Australia, for example. It has got to change. If these guys don't get on and make change, if it's four more years of the same, we'll be gone."
It's fighting talk from the losers but perhaps it is time for the South to throw what is left of their weight around.
Beaumont's big play for unity seems to be focused around a revival of the World Nations Championship concept, an annual tournament backed by backed by European-based private equity money.
The concept remains tantalising and would give World Rugby control over the international rugby narrative beyond the quadrennial World Cup, but it also comes with clear and obvious pitfalls.
For one, a significant portion of players believe it is unsustainable and will lead to drastically shorter careers (one current All Blacks forward told an adviser that he'd have three years top of playing this tournament before his body said no more).
Two, it waters down the importance of the Rugby World Cup, which remains rugby's jewel.
Three, there are still significant doubts about the mobility it offers nations below Tier One.
World Rugby Chairman Sir Bill Beaumont and New Zealand Rugby Chief Executive Mark Robinson. Photo / Photosport.co.nz
Four, it would not be long before New Zealand, South Africa and England realised it was their rugby brands that were effectively propping up the entire tournament and why should they effectively fund your Scotlands, Waleses and Italys of the world?
Plus ça change.
This championship only works if South Africa and New Zealand buy into it – this might be the last time the current world champions and Brand All Blacks have this sort of leverage. They must use it wisely.
No matter how hollow Impey's implied threats are – the likes of Steve Tew had been voicing similar sentiments long before a bat bit a chicken in Wuhan – there has to be recognition that rugby's calendar needs to be redrawn and the funding model has to change.
From a distance, Beaumont appeals as the exact opposite of the change agent World Rugby desperately needs.
It's time to surprise us all and shake up the Witan, Sir William of Twickenham.
