Agustin Pichot poised to take drastic action following World Rugby defeat - reports

Defeated election candidate Agustin Pichot is reportedly set to quit World Rugby following his loss to Bill Beaumont in the race to be chairman. The Argentine secured 23 of the available 51 votes, but he is believed to be frustrated by the stifled progress in the game and is poised to give up his council seat. 

Following his loss, Pichot was called on by Beaumont’s running mate, new vice-president Bernard Laporte, to stay involved, but Sportsmail are reporting that the ex-Pumas scrum-half is ready to leave the world of rugby politics behind following an election where a number of stakeholders voiced unhappiness with the voting process.  

Pichot was magnanimous following the election result announcement last Saturday, tweeting: “Congratulations Bill!!! Not this time, thanks to all fo the support, from the bottom of my heart.”

The Argentine had campaigned for a widening of the power base in the sport, telling RugbyPass prior to the election: “Two of the biggest economies in World Rugby are leading the way (England and France). The powerful people get more power and the emerging nations get less power. It’s quite patronising.

“Personally, I don’t like it. I come from a small country, rugby-wise. I’m a very proud Argentinian and that’s why I advocate for emerging nations because I truly believe that’s how Argentina grew and that’s how we became a powerful nation – or at least one of the 10 best nations in the world – because we received the vision and inclusion from South Africa first and from New Zealand and then from Australia.

“Nobody had a clear view of Argentina’s potential, nobody knew how much money Argentina would bring to the equation, but it was a good rugby decision.”