‘Beaten by my own country’ - John Jeffrey accuses SRU of personal grudge over failure to back him for World Rugby role

John Jeffrey has accused the Scottish Rugby Union of holding a personal grudge against him after they failed to support his bid to become chairman of World Rugby.

Jeffrey, 65, who described it as “a right kick in the face”, has tendered his resignation from not only World Rugby, where he was vice-chairman, but also as president of the Six Nations.

The 65-year-old is walking away from all formal roles he holds in the sport he has been associated with since the 1980s. One of the game’s all-time greats, Jeffrey played 40 times for Scotland and is a celebrated member of the 1990 Grand Slam team.

John Jeffrey has decided not to stand as chairman of World Rugby. (Picture: Gary Hutchison/SNS)

He has been vice-chairman of World Rugby since May last year and at one stage looked like being a shoo-in to succeed Sir Bill Beaumont in the top job. He was initially the sole candidate but three others have since thrown their hats in the ring to take over from Beaumont whose eight-year term is coming to an end.

However, it is factions within his own union that have scuppered Jeffrey's bid to land what is considered the most powerful job in rugby administration and will almost certainly now deny Scotland a seat at the sport's top table.

The Scottish Rugby Union’s custodian board, chaired by Professor Lorne Crerar, wrote to Jeffrey to tell him they would not back him. Without their support, Jeffrey felt he could no longer continue his bid to be chair of World Rugby.

“The really disappointing thing is that there is an Italian, an Australian and a French guy in the race,” said Jeffrey. “If I was beaten by one of them I would have accepted it. But to get beaten by my own country is a right kick in the face. I didn’t see it coming. Being beaten by my own country is mind-blowing to me. I find it hard to fathom.”

Jeffrey believes the root cause of the breakdown in his relationship with the SRU is his opposition to a governance review which brought the current structure into place in late 2022. Jeffrey was chairman of Scottish Rugby’s executive arm at the time. The review led to a new Scottish Rugby Union body taking on the responsibility for the oversight of the organisation’s main operating vehicle, Scottish Rugby Limited.

“As you all know there is no love lost between myself and the Scottish Rugby Union board over the governance review,” Jeffrey told a small gathering of journalists in an Edinburgh hotel. “I think it goes back to that, personally. It is still a personal grudge against me speaking up over the governance review. They said it was not that but because of my chairmanship [of Scottish Rugby].”

Jeffrey defended his record as chairman between 2020 and 2023 but admitted the Siobhan Cattigan tragedy was badly handled. The former Scotland international died in 2021 having suffered concussions while playing rugby but it took two years for Scottish Rugby to apologise to her family.

Financial results are likely to have been a factor in the SRU's failure to back Jeffrey. The union posted a £10.5 million loss for the last financial year and have predicted similar losses for the following year but Jeffrey said the investment helped Scotland rise up the world rankings and contributed to Glasgow Warriors’ URC triumph. He also talked up his role during Covid where he helped negotiate a multi-million grant and loan from the Scottish Government to tide the sport through a period when matches were played in empty stadiums.

A clearly emotional Jeffrey said he felt like the rug had been pulled from under him.

“I have just tendered my resignation from Six Nations and World Rugby as Scotland representative on both, he said. “That is as Six Nations council member, president of the Six Nations, World Rugby executive board member and vice-chairman. I do so because on Friday I was informed by the Scottish Rugby Union board that they were not going to endorse my candidacy as World Rugby chairman.”

Jeffrey was told that if he wanted to know the reasons then he was to get in touch with Crerar.

“I wrote back and thanked him for his note and said, yes, I would like to know the reasons but could he put it in writing. He did that after speaking to his board. I am not going into extreme details because it was a private and commercial letter but it was basically saying ‘the nature of my chairmanship over my term of office’ is why they were not backing me. To say I was surprised would be an under-statement.”

Jeffrey said the failure to back him made him “a lame duck”. “I don’t have their backing so can’t fully represent them on these boards,” he added. The former Kelso back-rower described it as a huge missed opportunity.

“Scotland had the chance to have somebody as chair of an international federation,” he said. “They don’t come round very often. You probably have one chance in rugby. I have the backing of UK Sport. The Scottish Rugby Union has now pulled the rug from our chance to do that. Surely we can put our differences aside for the betterment of Scotland, Scottish Rugby, Scottish sport?

“Scottish influence on international rugby will be hugely diminished by us not having somebody there. This is so detrimental. I spent so much time building up relationships and now we have a void on international bodies which we will have, I can guarantee you, for the next ten years.”

Jeffrey's decision leaves the way clear for the three remaining contenders - and any other candidates - to stand for World Rugby chair, with council members due to vote in November. The three are Brett Robinson, the ex-Australia flanker, Professor Andrea Rinaldo, who won four caps for Italy, and former France captain Abdelatif Benazzi.

As for Jeffrey, he will return to attending games as a fan and spend more time on his farm in the Borders.

“It’s not the way I envisaged it ending. It is just a real shame because from a personal point of view, I think I could have made a real difference at World Rugby,” he said.

The Scottish Rugby Union has made no comment thus far.