DUBLIN — Former Rugby Canada chair Sally Dennis has been elected to World Rugby's executive board.
The Vancouver lawyer received 28 votes from the World Rugby Council, ahead of Uruguay's Sebastian Pineyrua (18 votes) and Samoa's Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi (five) for the non-high-performance union position on the panel that essentially acts as the world governing body's board of directors.
Canada has not had representation on the board in recent history.
The board will be led by Australia's Brett Robinson, who beat out France's Abdelatif Benazzi and Italy's Andrea Rinaldo in the race to succeed Sir Bill Beaumont as World Rugby chair. Beaumont, a former England captain, is stepping down after two four-year terms at the helm.
Robinson edged Benazzi 27-25 in a second ballot. Benazzi was eliminated after finishing third on the first ballot with nine votes, behind Benazzi's 21 and Robinson's 22. The 54-year-old Robinson is the organization's first elected chair from the Southern Hemisphere.
The elections were held Thursday at World Rugby meetings in Dublin.
Also elected to the executive board were Ireland's Susan Carty and England's Jonathan Webb (representing Northern Hemisphere high-performance unions), South Africa's Mark Alexander and New Zealand's Bart Campbell (Southern Hemisphere high-performance unions) and Rugby Africa's Herbert Mensah (regional association).
They join Robinson, World Rugby chief executive Alan Gilpin, the Independent EventsCo Chair (to be appointed later), three independent members (approved by the World Rugby Council and including two women, one of whom is Angela Ruggiero whose current mandate runs through to 2027) and player representatives (Rob Kearney and Melodie Robinson on the executive board.
Bob Latham, a two-time chairman of USA Rugby, had been on the executive board since 2011, but his term is now up.
Dennis currently represents Canada on the larger World Rugby Council, which features officials from 18 countries. Argentina, Australia, England, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Scotland, South Africa and Wales each have three representatives on the council while Canada, Fiji, Georgia, Romania, Samoa, Uruguay and the U.S. have one apiece.
With another two representatives each from Asia Rugby, Oceania Rugby, Rugby Africa, Rugby Americas North, Rugby Europe and Sudamerica Rugby, there are currently 52 members on the council.
Appointed to Rugby Canada’s board as a general director in 2017, Dennis became the first female chair of the Rugby Canada board in 2021.
Dennis has been Canada’s representative on the World Rugby Council since March 2023 when she succeeded Pat Parfrey, who had represented Canada on the council since 2015.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 14, 2024
The Canadian Press
