World Rugby's decision-making bodies

World Rugby's decision-making bodies include the Council, the Executive Board and associated Council Committees.

World Rugby Council

The Council is World Rugby’s highest decision-making body and is chaired by Brett Robinson, the World Rugby Chair who sits as an independent. It votes on key decisions over such issues as the hosting rights and competition structure for the Rugby World Cup and has the power to admit or expel unions from its membership.

The most significant changes to Council came in November 2017 when World Rugby announced that the number of people able to sit on Council would increase from 32 with the 17 new members to be women, aligning with its ground-breaking Women’s Plan 2017-25 and its objective to accelerate the development of women in rugby on and off the field of play and further gender equality at all levels of the game. 

There are currently 53 members of the World Rugby Council.

World Rugby Executive Board

The Executive Board performs a management role for the Council and is responsible for framing and overseeing implementation of World Rugby’s strategic plan and application of policy decisions. The Executive Board consists of the following:

• Chair: Brett Robinson (Independent)
• Vice-Chair & High-performance unions (Northern Hemisphere) : Jonathan Webb (England)
• Chief Executive: Alan Gilpin. 
• Independent EventsCo Chair:To Be Appointed
• High-performance unions (Northern Hemisphere): Su Carty (Ireland) 
• High-performance unions (Southern Hemisphere): Mark Alexander (South Africa) and Bart Campbell (New Zealand). 
• Non-High Performance union: Sally Dennis (Canada). 
• Regional Association Representative: Herbert Mensah (Rugby Africa). 
• Independent Executive Board Members:  Louise Evans (UK), Angela Ruggiero (USA) and third independent member to be appointed. 
• Athlete Representativesnominated by International Rugby Players (IRP): Rob Kearney (Ireland) and Melodie Robinson (New Zealand). 

Associated Committees

In addition to Council and the Executive Board, there are a number of Committees that regularly meet to discuss a range of topics affecting the game.

In October 2020, as part of ongoing governance reform, World Rugby announced new interim committee structures which included greater global player, coach, independent and female representation.