Beaumont is hoping to secure an agreement over a global season was one of his main ambitions for a second four-year term.
LONDON: World Rugby chairman Bill Beaumont thinks that there will be a new international competition along the lines of last year’s Nations Championship proposal due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Beaumont faces a challenge for his job from Argentine vice-chairman Agustin Pichot in an election later this month.
He said that many around the rugby world may have reconsidered their positions in the light of the financial hardship unions are suffering in the wake of the pandemic.
“I’m pretty confident that there will be a variant of a sort of Nations (Championship),” the former England captain told the BBC.
Beaumont is hoping to secure an agreement over a global season was one of his main ambitions for a second four-year term.
A proposal for a 12-team competition bringing together the Six Nations and the Rugby Championship with the addition of two other nations was scuppered last year because of a relegation element feared by weaker European nations.
“I think there’s a real spirit of collaboration between the north and the south. Look, what we can do with our playing windows? What can we do in the international windows that can generate more funds from another competition.”
Beaumont and Pichot were both drivers of the original Nations Championship initiative, which had attracted the offer of major financial backing from venture capitalists.
