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Sir Clive Woodward can't fathom why Fiji and Samoa voted to re-elect Bill Beaumont as World Rugby chairman after four years of struggle under the incumbent.
Former England coach Clive Woodward has slammed Fiji and Samoa for ignoring their own struggles at the World Rugby chairman election and voting against Agustin Pichot.
Woodward was incredulous that the two Pacific nations had thrown their support behind incumbent Bill Beaumont, who was reinstated on a 28-23 majority.
Former England international captain Beaumont saw off the challenge of his vice-president, the progressive Pichot.
Canada and Japan are also believed to have backed Beaumont, a move that Woodward said should leave them with no sympathy if the sport continues to be weighted in favour of established nations.
"Our sympathy will be limited if those nations utter a word of complaint ever again at the lack of opportunity to play tier one nations or, in the case of the Pacific Island teams, about their best players being nicked by other countries," Woodward wrote in a column for The Daily Mail.
"Or being left virtually penniless when they play the likes of England in front of 80,000 at Twickenham -- matches that gross in excess of Stg14 million for the RFU. Players in those countries should be outraged and asking why their unions did not vote for change."
Woodward, the 2003 World Cup-winning coach, also lamented the Six Nations effectively block voting for Beaumont to protect their own nests rather than alter the course of a sport that threatens to be engulfed by the coronavirus pandemic.
With each of the Six Nations unions carrying three votes, it would have taken only one of them to break the mould for former Pumas international Pichot to carry the day.
Woodward said it was "shameful" that Wales alone of the Six Nations had at least met with Pichot to discuss his plans and proposals.
"The rest of the Six Nations have let the wider game down," Woodward wrote.
"They haven't engaged publicly in debate and they were always going to vote en bloc -- for the status quo and their own financial interest.
"They don't want their place at top table to be threatened. Rugby is going nowhere until their unnatural monopoly is broken."
Woodward believed only England and France were strong enough to ride out the financial storm created by the COVID-19 pandemic and could foresee a chasm between them and the rest of the rugby world.
