Bill Beaumont could find his campaign to serve another four years as chairman of World Rugby derailed after it emerged that his nomination had been supported by a leading figure in Fijian rugby who has been convicted of manslaughter and criticised by Amnesty International.

Beaumont, 68, the former England captain who is standing against Augustin Pichot, has been proposed by the French federation and seconded by Fiji.

The Fiji chairman, Ratu Vilikesa Bulewa Francis Kean, a former head of the Fijian Navy, is also one of eight people standing for seven places on the all-powerful World Rugby Executive Committee. However, two reports by Amnesty International have condemned Kean, who was put in charge of prisons in 2016, and the culture surrounding him.

Amnesty found that