Lapasset and Beaumont face election D-Day

Incumbent Bernard Lapasset and former England rugby captain Bill Beaumont will learn their fate in Los Angeles today 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.

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.

Lapasset is sanguine about their 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, 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 every kick-off,” he said.