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Opinion
Finally Agustín Pichot will be the candidate to bring together the southern hemisphere in the elections for president of World Rugby.
Who will Pichot, already World Rugby vice-president, face in his campaign?
The Englishman Bill Beaumont, a man from the north and the current head of World Rugby.
These two have been battling each other since a year ago, when Beaumont did not give his support to the World League project in Argentina.
Who will win? How are the votes likely to be cast?
The map indicates each group has 22 nations in their hemispheres, with seven to be defined. In total there are 51 votes. The magic number that ensures the presidency is therefore 26.
Pichot and the south would have the 12 votes of the SANZAAR member countries – they add three each: New Zealand, South Africa, Australia and Argentina – plus two each from Oceania, Africa, Asia and South America. Uruguay also has one, and there’s probably also Georgia.
Beaumont and the north would be divided like among the 18 Six Nations votes – England, France, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and Italy – the two from Europe and the two from Japan.
Weren’t the Japanese with the south? Yes, but they were kicked out of Super Rugby from next year and could ally with the northern nations.
Who else is in play? The south works closely with Samoa and Fiji, which would give Pichot two more votes.
On the other hand, the north would hope to add the two from Canada and Romania. In this way, they would be tied 24-24.
The three votes, then, that seem to define the bid are those of the North America region (two) and the United States (one).
Naturally, being an election in which there will surely be promises and betrayals, nothing is assured. The two groups have a long road of negotiations to retrace and two weeks to add the necessary votes.
The World Rugby chair is the prize.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.