‘Great privilege’: Former Wallaby wins race to become world rugby’s most powerful man

Former Wallaby Brett Robinson has promised to tackle the financial “crisis” facing many rugby nations, and to continue to make the sport more appealing to fans, after being elected as the new chair of World Rugby.

At World Rugby council elections in Dublin overnight, Robinson edged out French opponent Abdel Benazzi by the narrowest of margins to win the powerful role for a four-year term.

In what began as a three-way contest, Italian contender Andrea Rinaldo was dropped after the first round of voting and needing 27 of the 53 votes available from the World Rugby council, Robinson then prevailed over Benazzi by 27-25 in the second round of voting.

The forecasts were that one swing nation could decide the outcome in a secret ballot, and that appears to have occurred. The election campaign saw age-old alliances fractured for the first time, with England backing Robinson and South Africa and Argentina pushing for a Benazzi win.

Sources familiar with the voting, who requested anonymity to speak freely, said a majority of Six Nations countries ultimately voted for Robinson over Benazzi, and that proved decisive.

Robinson, 54, is the first person from a Southern Hemisphere country to have held the role of chair in the professional era. Former ARU president Sir Roger Vanderfield was chair of the International Rugby Board in the 1980s and was a central figure in the vote to launch the first Rugby World Cup in 1987.

Brett Robinson is congratulated by RA boss Phil Waugh in Dublin after the vote. Credit: World Rugby

“It is a great privilege to be elected World Rugby Chair, it is a game I have been close to all my life and after being asked by close colleagues to step forward, and be elected, it is a really proud for me personally,” Robinson told media after the election.

“Abdel and I played Test match rugby against each other at Ballymore ... so we know each other well. It was a really tight election and they were wonderful candidates.”

The Queenslander campaigned on the promise of being a progressive leader who plans to modernise rugby and evolve the game to appeal to new and younger audiences, and to fix up the financial problems plaguing the game. One of the factors, Robinson argues, is ballooning player wages.

Brett Robinson in his playing days in 1997; he captained the inaugural Brumbies team.Credit: Andrew Meares

A recent crisis summit of major unions in Dublin was held to address why multiple countries are recording significant losses, and why clubs in several countries are going bust.

“The number one issue that I saw facing, not necessarily within World Rugby, but within the world of rugby, is the financial sustainability of our member unions,” Robinson said.

“As a board we recognise this and facilitated two months ago a working group here in Dublin with the major union CEOs and chairs together to really understand collectively, what are the revenue and cost levers that we need to stare into to deal with those economic challenges. One of those is wage inflation and player salaries.”

Former Wallabies captain John Eales was unsuccessful in his bid to be elected to the World Rugby executive committee.

But Robinson landing the top job will give Australia a level of connection and influence at World Rugby not seen since John O’Neill was a major presence on the global stage over a decade ago.

Robinson has served as RA’s representative on the World Rugby executive board since 2016.

“It’s a good outcome,” RA chief executive Phil Waugh told this masthead from Dublin. “Australia is the canary in the coalmine as far as the shape of the game and attracting new fans, and working in a highly competitive sporting landscape, Australia needs to be innovative and in some ways a little disruptive, so he certainly understands our landscape, which is helpful.”

Robinson said he was keen to continue looking at ways to improve the spectacle of rugby, after fan feedback from the 2023 Rugby World Cup urged World Rugby to crack down on “senseless kicking” and “endless stoppages”. Recent law shifts and trials designed to speed up the game had added more than three minutes to ball-in-play time, Robinson said.

“But there’s more to do,” he said.

Robinson, 54, was the inaugural Brumbies captain and is a doctor and accomplished businessman.

Addressing the fact he won with a narrow margin over Benazzi, who had campaigned on breaking up the “anglo, conservative” powerbase of World Rugby, Robinson said he would seek to unify the game and move forward with shared goals.

“The other thing I really want to do is unite the game. We have differences of opinion, and we have some challenges. There are some people who are disappointed out of the elections,” he said.

“But it is really important in my role that we bring the game together, and we agree on what shared success looks like. And we pursue it together.”

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