The winner requires 26 of the 51 votes available. The Six Nations – Scotland, England, Ireland, Wales, France and Italy – hold 18 of those votes and are expected to back Beaumont. The Rugby Championship nation’s – Argentina, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa – also have three votes each and are expected to back Pichot. Fiji seconded Beaumont’s run for chairman, so will vote for him. But as Pichot is making the tier two nations so central to his campaign, he is likely to receive masses of support from the less established blocs.

It is going to come down to the wire and the four votes available in Asia – two from Japan and two from the rest of Asia – could prove crucial.

Pichot is confident Asia will back him because of “the vision of the game, where they have been in the last years and what they have been looking forward to.”

First, he wants Japan to become part of the Rugby Championship. He has been raising this point since 2017, long before his bid. Then, he wants a pathway for the other nations to close the gap on Japan.

Pichot wants to build regional tournaments for men and women, in sevens and 15s, to give teams a chance to play more regularly and at a higher standard. He said the Americas Rugby Championship, with six teams across the two Americas, is a blueprint.

“We have three events that are massive [Hong Kong Sevens and Singapore Sevens, and the World Cup in Japan], and I think we should explore regional development tournaments.”

And once teams benefit from more game time, Pichot wants to see them have a chance to progress. Last year, World Rugby proposed a world league in which the top 12 teams would play each other in an annual tournament, with promotion and relegation.

The idea was rejected by the Six Nations – promotion and relegation was a sticking point. But now, as rugby struggles financially during the coronavirus crisis, Pichot thinks the votes will change.

At the time of the last vote, the Six Nations was in the middle of striking a deal with private equity firm CVC, but now that deal is set they could see value in making matches outside the Six Nations window more significant by being part of the world league, Pichot said.

“They wanted to optimise their own revenue and that was fine,” said Pichot. “But I think Covid-19 will change a lot of things. But especially CVC, they want a better product for November and July and I think now is the right time [to launch the world league].

“The whole mindset of the world will change after Covid-19,” he said. “You might think that people will fall into a more conservative way of thinking, but I still think this will change and reset.”

Pichot thinks sevens could be the key to growth, as it’s easy to understand and play. But if the Hong Kong Sevens and Singapore Sevens are the only tournaments worth following in Asia, it’s an issue.

“If you don’t have tournaments to play in, you loose interest by the players,” he said. “You don’t play, you don’t travel, you don’t compete, you have a problem. That is what we have to look at in regions like Africa, South America and Asia.”

Asia’s size might make it primed for growth, but it also presents challenges. Across the spectrum, you have Japan, who are “very organised in rugby, commercially very sound, they hosted the World Cup and most teams want to play with them as they are a good team and a good market”. At the other end, you have the likes of Taiwan, who are minnows in comparison.

At the moment, who knows, but if Pichot becomes chairman he is determined to find out.

“It’s such a massive region,” he said. “We think it is so varied that we need to assess Asia as a project. How can you optimise the rugby and volunteers in grass roots rugby?”

“That is the challenge. We need to have a big dive into Asia to discover how to go forward. It’s amazing we haven’t explored the region yet. Even with the World Cup, there was no plan on how to go forward, there is no plan for Asia.

“This is exactly we want: a pathway. Established nations playing and then a way to bring the rest up.”