By BBC (Sports) | Created at 2024-11-14 14:02:13 | Updated at 2024-11-21 23:07:35
1 week ago
Australian Brett Robinson has become the first World Rugby chair from the southern hemisphere after narrowly beating former France international Abdelatif Benazzi to the governing body's top job.
Ex-Wallabies flanker Robinson shaded a final-round run-off vote among World Rugby's Council by 27 votes to 25, after Italy's Andrea Rinaldo had been eliminated earlier in the election.
Robinson succeeds former England captain Bill Beaumont who is stepping down after serving for eight years, the maximum term.
The 54-year-old plans to prioritise financial stability and commercial growth, with several national unions and club competitions coming under pressure on the balance sheet.
"Today, I reiterate my commitment as Chair to harness the abundant passion in our game and to lead for all, by creating the right culture to deliver commercial outcomes for a contemporary global sport," said Robinson.
Robinson, who won 16 caps for the Wallabies before captaining Oxford University to victory in the 2001 Varsity match, is a medical doctor and has worked in concussion research at the University of Queensland's Brain Institute.
He also worked as general manager of Rugby Australia's high-performance unit between 2002 and 2005 and has been part of World Rugby's executive board since 2016.
He was nominated for chair by his native Australia, seconded by England's Rugby Football Union (RFU) and publicly backed by New Zealand.
In an interview with BBC Sport prior to his election, Robinson spoke of the need for Test rugby's superpowers to take the game to new markets and a curbing of wage inflation
