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DUBLIN :Australian Brett Robinson was elected chairman of World Rugby on Thursday and put financial sustainability of the game top of his agenda after narrowly defeating former France captain Abdelatif Benazzi to lead the global governing body.
Robinson, who becomes the first permanent chairman of World Rugby from the southern hemisphere, was chosen over Moroccan-born Benazzi by 27 votes to 25. Italian Andrea Rinaldo was eliminated after the first round of voting.
The 54-year-old former flanker also pledged to focus on player safety and make the game far more attractive through the refining of new laws. He took over from Bill Beaumont, the former England captain who was at the helm for eight years.
“The number one issue that I saw us facing, not necessarily within World Rugby, but within the world of rugby is the financial sustainability of our member unions,” Robinson, who won 16 caps for Australia, told a news conference in Dublin.
Asked if players’ salaries are too high in Europe, he said wage inflation was one of the economic challenges rugby was facing.
A former surgeon who has done research work into concussion, Robinson touted the use of technology-led data to better understand how often elite athletes should play and train, and to provide the right environments to protect their welfare.
“We love our game, we want it to be safe and we want to do all we can to make sure that young boys and girls and Mums and Dads feel safe in playing this great game, because it has so much more to offer,” he said.
A fine openside who made his debut for the Wallabies one year after rugby turned professional in 1995, Robinson would probably have earned more than 16 caps were it not for his medical studies in Brisbane and then at Oxford.
He has been a member of World Rugby’s executive board since 2016, having served a nine-year spell on the Rugby Australia board, and has private sector experience in the healthcare and insurance sectors.
He has been a strong supporter of the law trials which will be introduced after the World Rugby Council voted in favour of change on Thursday, and has advocated for the introduction of a 20-minute red card.
World Rugby have decided to delay a decision on the 20-minute red card trial until the end of the Autumn Series. Robinson said it was a contentious issue “misunderstood by some” and taking some more time was therefore worthwhile.
“I’m really optimistic about the significant engagement that our game has had in trying to deal directly with the shape of the game,” he said, citing fans’ desire for fewer stoppages, less senseless kicking and teams running more with the ball.
“(Since July) we have increased ball in play time by over three minutes by introducing some of those changes. There are still some things that are frustrating us, but that’s a massive improvement,” he said.
