Beaumont has been speaking about Test player release ahead of Thursday's World Rugby vote on revised 2020 calendar
Bill Beaumont believes World Rugby’s revised Test calendar window for 2020 will be voted through on Thursday despite concerns from the administrations running the club leagues in England and France. Club owners are reportedly unhappy that regulation nine, which governs player release for international duty, will be extended to cover the expanded Test calendar that World Rugby have recommended.
But Beaumont has outlined that the revision of the Test schedule will actually balance itself out in terms of player availability to French and England clubs, claiming the revised measures won’t see players away from their clubs more than they are in an ordinary year.
Speaking on The Breakdown, the weekly Sky Sport NZ TV rugby programme, ahead of Thursday’s World Rugby council vote on the revised Test window for later in 2020, Beaumont was hopeful the extended window plan will be agreed.
“They [English and French clubs] were concerned and I think they still are concerned that they could well be losing players but… because the English season, for instance, will hopefully kick off on August 15, the French season will start on September 3, and normally they would be missing a lot of players at the start of September because they would be playing in the Rugby Championship anyway.
“So look, World Rugby have made the decision that it is right for the global game, that we have to get international rugby up and running because at the end of the day that is what funds the game. That funds the game whether it’s the provincial game in New Zealand, whether it is the provincial game in England. International rugby funds that for every little rugby club on the planet.”
🔵🏉 @BluesRugbyTeam Flanker Dalton Papalii loves some hard work… on and off the field! 💪 #SuperRugby Aotearoa’s top tackler also likes to get his hands dirty in the garage pic.twitter.com/jhVLhLZgDC
— Sky Sport NZ (@skysportnz) July 24, 2020
Beaumont also hinted that World Rugby’s ongoing independent governance review could potentially shake up the allocation of voting rights to member countries. The Englishman was recently re-elected as chairman of the global rugby body, securing 28 of the available 51 votes in a head-to-head contest with Argentine Agustin Pichot.
However, the election was mired by criticism regarding the voting structure whereby smaller countries such as Japan, who hosted the most successful World Cup of all time in 2019, don’t have the same number of votes as nations competing in the Six Nations and the Rugby Championship.
The six Six Nations countries – England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, France and Italy – all had three votes, while the four Sanzaar countries – New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Argentina – also had three votes.
Japan had two votes while seven other countries – Romania, Georgia, Uruguay, USA, Canada, Samoa and Fiji – had one apiece. That gave a total of 39 ‘country’ votes. Then there were six regions – Africa, Asia, Europe, North/Central America, South America and Oceania – who each had two votes, giving a total of 12 ‘region’ votes – and an overall total of 51.
Featuring on the TV rugby show fronted by former All Blacks Jeff Wilson, Mils Muliaina and John Kirwan, Beaumont was put on the spot about the current inequalities of the current voting system. Broaching the subject, Muliaina asked: “The voting system, it’s not very democratic, is it? When can we see it change so the likes of the Pacific Islands can have an equal vote… when can we see that change?”
Speaking from Spain, Beaumont said: “Part of my manifesto was that there was going to be a complete review of the governance and that is taking place at the moment. “I’m not involved in that but certainly every union have the right to write in to Hugh Robertson, who is an independent chairman of that group, and they will then make their recommendation.
“But if you think in the previous four years I was there, we had extra votes. We had Fiji, Samoa came onto the council, Japan got extra votes, Argentina got extra votes. There is an opportunity now for countries to get a seat at the table and get extra votes, but I’m not pre-judging what will happen in the governance review. Let’s look forward and see what that has to say there.”
Kirwan didn’t let the matter rest there, asking: “What would your personal decision be, Bill?”
Beaumont replied: “My personal decision is that you have to ensure they feel that the Pacific Islands are sat at the table, which they are at the moment with the exception of Tonga, and I think you have a situation now where it is voting where some countries have one vote, other countries have two votes, others have three and four votes and that is on a weighted voting system and that is something that was decided in Tokyo two years ago.
“We’ve obviously had the coronavirus (since then)… what I have had to concentrate on is trying to pull everybody together around this dreadful pandemic we have got.”
Beaumont further threw his support behind speculation that could see a Hawaiian club enter Major League Rugby and Fijian/Japanese teams included in a refreshed Super Rugby set-up. “We should do, without a doubt. What I have found interesting from watching your programme and reading in the press, certainly there seems to be a huge enthusiasm south of the equator.
“Certainly the team they are talking about putting in Hawaii in Major League Rugby, I have heard that Fiji or Japan could be invited into Super Rugby – these are decisions that need to be taken because we are in a position at the moment where players and teams have been travelling the globe and I don’t think this will return in the near future, so what we have to do is be creative and work together with our partners.”
'We are going to lose 10 years of rugby that we’ve built'
Argentinean rugby is being gutted, undermining years of work. @JLyall93 👨💻talks to @TomDBeattie and @Chipifigallo, first-hand witnesses to its unraveling 🇦🇷https://t.co/mBKaylZH5j
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) July 26, 2020
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
26 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
1 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 Crusades , you can keep going.
1 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!😭😭😭 !!!
26 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
26 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.
26 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 commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
26 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments