Abdelatif Benazzi betrayed during the vote for the presidency of World Rugby?

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It didn't amount to anything. A breath. Two little voices. Present in the second round of voting for the presidency of World Rugby, Abdelatif Benazzi finally saw his opponent, the Australian Brett Robinson, win 27 to 25 on Thursday 14 number, during an election which took place in Dublin. A disappointment, obviously, especially when you come so close.

“I wasn't far away and I'm still proud of the campaign and the work done with my team. We shook the institution,” reacted the person concerned in an interview with Olympic Midday.

World Rugby Presidency: Benazzi betrayed?

A late declared candidate, the former second row and captain of the French XV (78 caps) led an express campaign which saw him shake up the institution.

Proposed by France and supported by South Africa, Benazzi admitted to being confident and hoping to turn the tables in order to succeed the Englishman Bill Beaumont. In vain. “I knew that maneuvers could take place. My message got through but it was politics that turned things around,” Benazzi underlined.

This “policy” would have taken the form ofa betrayal. » There is a small detail that escaped me at the last moment. It doesn't come from historical allies. I was told that I was betrayed,” declared the French candidate.

The Timesamong other echoes, suggests that Herbert Mensah, president of Rugby Africa, changed his vote at the last moment, while Benazzi, who indicated in his program that he wanted to help the development of African rugby, thought he had his support.

The Ghanaian, who had two votes in the vote, would have tipped the scales towards Brett Robinson. If his vote had gone to Benazzi, the Frenchman would have won the vote. Herbert Mensah was subsequently elected to the executive board of World Rugby.

Benazzi: 2028 goal?

Abdelatif Benazzi prefers to keep the positive from this campaign. “I was heard, I disrupted this system, I worried them, there are two representatives from Africa on the executive board…”

Is he already looking towards the next election in 2028? “I don’t take dates, I live day by day,” he said to Olympic Midday. “I am going to get involved in several global or European bodies, such as the EPCR. I will continue to do it with passion while wanting to talk about real things”

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