'A massive opportunity will have been missed': Sir Clive Woodward slams Fiji, Samoa, Six Nations for backing World Rugby chairman Sir Bill Beaumont
Former World Cup-winning England coach Sir Clive Woodward has lambasted Fiji and Samoa for throwing their support behind Sir Bill Beaumont in last week’s race to become World Rugby chairman.
Writing in his Daily Mail column, the ex-British and Irish Lions boss has also grilled the Six Nations for having “let the wider game down” by supporting Beaumont.
An announcement was made over the weekend that Beaumont, the former England and Lions captain, was re-elected as World Rugby chairman after ousting former Argentina skipper Agustin Pichot 28-23 in a one-round vote.
Woodward was scathing in his review of how the voting played out, aiming his criticism at not just Fiji and Samoa, but also fellow tier two nations Japan and Canada for their backing of Beaumont.
While World Rugby hasn’t yet released a breakdown of the voting, Woodward indicated all four nations opted against voting for Pichot, who stood as a strong advocate for change from the status quo within the global rugby fraternity.
“If that is the case, our sympathy will be limited if those nations utter a word of complaint ever again at the lack of opportunity to play tier one nations or, in the case of the Pacific Island teams, about their best players being nicked by other countries,” Woodward wrote.
“Or being left virtually penniless when they play the likes of England in front of 80,000 at Twickenham — matches that gross in excess of £14 million for the RFU.
“Players in those countries should be outraged and asking why their unions did not vote for change.”
The Six Nations also copped a serve from the 21-cap former England international, with every member union of the competition using their three votes each to reinstate Beaumont.
Woodward described it as “shameful” that Wales were the only member of the competition to have reached out and discussed Pichot’s ideas with him.
“The rest of the Six Nations have let the wider game down,” the two-test Lions midfielder said. “They haven’t engaged publicly in debate and they were always going to vote en bloc — for the status quo and their own financial interest.
“They don’t really want the wider game to grow and improve, for there to be promotion and relegation from the Six Nations, or for there to be any kind of democracy in the voting.
“They don’t want their place at top table to be threatened. Rugby is going nowhere until their unnatural monopoly is broken.”
The Sunwolves may have played their last match of Super Rugby, and it now appears they won't be playing in a proposed new Japanese domestic competition either.https://t.co/A1Cnjxw1dM
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) May 4, 2020
Woodward questioned the “perverse voting system” that allowed “perennial underperformers” Italy to cast three votes in comparison to Fiji and Samoa, as both nations only held one vote, while Tonga didn’t have a say at all.
The 64-year-old was also concerned about the clear stand-off between the north and south, with the entire SANZAAR contingent of New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Argentina backing Pichot’s campaign.
“That split is unhealthy, there is no joined-up thinking between the bigger nations; no genuine wish to grow the game elsewhere and let others in,” Woodward’s column read.
“As a result, the world game will just 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 heavily stacked against them.”
“It means England and France are probably the only two nations able to ride out the financial storm. I can seem them getting stronger and stronger while other countries drop off at an alarming rate.”
Woodward concluded by stating that the closeness of the vote tally should act as a “massive wake up call” to the powers at World Rugby, highlighting that the result could have swung the other had any one of the Six Nations voted for Pichot.
“I wanted to wake up this morning with rugby energised about the future, a brave new world if you like, but instead it feels like same old, same old. We will have forgotten about the vote soon,” he said.
“A massive opportunity will have been missed.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Beautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to comments