Rugby Europe announced they are supporting Sir Bill Beaumont in his bid to be re-elected as World Rugby chairman ©Getty Images

Rugby Europe have announced they are supporting Sir Bill Beaumont in his bid to be re-elected as World Rugby chairman.

Voting for the World Rugby leadership election began yesterday, with Sir Bill running against Argentina's former scrum-half and captain Agustín Pichot.

With many of the northern hemisphere unions believed to favour Sir Bill, Rugby Europe revealed they were indeed backing the 68-year-old Englishman and French Rugby Federation President (FFR) Bernard Laporte, who is running for vice-chairman. 

"During its last meeting, which was held on April 8 by conference call, the Rugby Europe Board of Directors unanimously validated this position and gave its proxy to the President, Octavian Morariu," a Rugby Europe statement said.

"The manifesto led by Sir Bill Beaumont and the President of the FFR, Bernard Laporte, corresponds to the priority actions necessary for the development of rugby in Europe.

"Rugby Europe considers that the substantial work initiated over the last few years, in terms of governance reforms, the structure of men's and women's competitions and financial support for member unions, should allow our sport to face the current crisis and become better structured for the challenges ahead."

Rugby Europe is the governing body responsible for the promotion, development and management of international competitions for the 48 member unions across Europe.

It has been reported that Agustín Pichot may have caused a split in the Six Nations vote bloc for the World Rugby election ©Getty Images
It has been reported that Agustín Pichot may have caused a split in the Six Nations vote bloc for the World Rugby election ©Getty Images

Along with the five other regional associations, Rugby Europe get two votes for the election. 

The member unions of Asia Rugby have already voted emphatically to support Pichot's bid. 

South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Argentina (SANZAAR) and Six Nations countries have three votes each, with Japan getting two.

Romania, Georgia, Uruguay, USA, Canada, Samoa and Fiji each have one vote.

Beaumont is generally seen as narrow favourite, but Pichot, currently World Rugby vice-chairman, appears to have struck a chord with his call for a "global realignment of our game".

There have been late reports of a possible split in the expected Six Nations bloc vote for Sir Bill, with the Daily Mail suggesting that Wales and Ireland were considering switching their votes to Pichot. 

All votes in the election, which is being handled by PricewaterhouseCoopers, must be in by Thursday (April 30), but the results will not be announced until a World Rugby annual meeting which will take place online on May 12.