Incumbent Bernard Lapasset and former England rugby captain Bill Beaumont will learn their fate in Los Angeles on Monday in a second round of voting for the presidency of the International Rugby Board (IRB).
Lapasset, 64, has been in power for the past four years and somewhat surprisingly was challenged by 59-year-old Beaumont which resulted in a tie at the first vote by the 26 members of the IRB in Auckland on October 19 a few days before the World Cup final.
Now, a few months later, and with things like a change in hands at the USA Eagles ( who selected a new President), all could hinge on this possible swing vote, to break the 26 – all deadlock.
Lapasset:
Lapasset, formerly president of the French Rugby Federation (FFR) from 1991 to 2007, has had an accomplished first term which saw him notably mastermind a successful campaign to have rugby regain its place at the Olympic Games.
It will be reintroduced at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro in its sevens format.
Lapasset is sanguine about their respective different manifestos for the future.
“This is not about a battle between two men, but a different vision of rugby,” said Lapasset, who wishes to develop the game more in favour of the emerging countries especially in Asia and the Americas.
Beaumont:
Beaumont, who began life after retiring as a distinguished player by leading one of the teams in the BBC quiz series Question of Sport, was not very revealing about his plans for the future of the sport.
“I am as excited as I was before the whistle goes for kick-off,” he told The Times.
Aside from the presidential election, there are also elections for Vice-President and the Executive Committee.
All are decided by a majority vote.