He still feels the same way, but recognises that the prospect of Georgia gatecrashing the Six Nations is remote while the present tournament continues to be the grandest of cash cows for the unions involved. "I don't see it at all," Pichot says with a sigh. "It is the point where altruism meets reality. The Six Nations will not change because it is working very well." Similarly, he would love to change the financial model in which unions keep 100 per cent of gate receipts of home Test matches. "We raise it with every country in the south but it won't happen," Pichot said. "We will try? Yes, but we will lose the vote. This is the challenge. There are a lot of people who like the system as it is. I understand that but I want the system to be better for everyone." An even more eye-opening experience was the vote for France to host the 2023 World Cup, ignoring an independent technical evaluation report that recommended South Africa as the "clear leader".

Pichot no longer attempts to project a brave face on the horse-trading that allowed France to steal the necessary votes with promises of an extra $110-140 million. Financials first: Questions have been raised as to the value of awarding the 2023 World Cup to France over 'clear leader' South Africa. In future, Pichot wants to scrap the secret ballot as well as the two-week gap between the publication of the report and vote that allowed such subterfuge to take place. "The first thing I thought as an Argentinian is what chance does Argentina have of organising a World Cup? None," Pichot said. "Is that correct? Is that right? Maybe I am an altruist who thinks rugby is about more than making money. The process was independent but then politics comes into it. Maybe we should do a long-range plan of 12 years of three cycles where you can do a forecast so you are assured of the income." Just as he was as a player, Pichot is a ball of energy, spitting out ideas that may or may not be World Rugby policy.

His partnership with Beaumont seems like straight out of a cop buddy movie; Beaumont the vernacular old-timer and Pichot the idealistic rookie. "Bill is a gentleman while I get frustrated and I try to push harder," Pichot said. "I am more anxious. Maybe my shrink would agree that I think time is the most precious thing. I don't like waiting. "Unless there's a very good reason why you have to wait I would much rather do it and maybe get it wrong. You don't train until you are confident you can beat the All Blacks. You have to play them. The first time you may lose by 50 points, then 30, then 20 and then you beat them." In their 18 months together, Beaumont and Pichot have already gone about agreeing a new 12-year calendar, extending the international eligibility period from three to five years, relaunching an expanded Americas Rugby Championship that kicked off this weekend and increasing female representation on the board to a third. Hard yakka: There are concerns over the intensity of training in the modern game. Credit:Glenn Campbell

Still Pichot is unsatisfied. Mistakes have been made. He wishes more had been done to expand the sevens and women's game. One thing for which he will not apologise is increasing the sanctions around contact with the head. During his playing career, Pichot counts at least four occasions in which he played on with a concussion. On the one occasion when he sought medical help for his symptoms, he was effectively told to man up. That the culture around concussion has changed for the better is undeniable. The harsher punishments for contact with the head that World Rugby introduced last year are more controversial. The four-week ban handed to England flanker James Haskell for his high hit on Jamie Roberts prompted ex-professionals to claim that the game had "gone soft". "That's bulls---," Pichot said. "The Haskell tackle was debated all around the world, but the head needs to be protected. Haskell knew he was going up, he knew the risk of going high like that. I get angry when I hear people say the game is going soft. It is still a hard game. We love rugby because it is a contact sport but we don't love it because players get injured. I prefer to go harsh with the punishments and save the player in the long run than allowing them to carry on with the same injuries."

More can and will be done around player welfare. While the exact statistics are being tabulated by scientists at World Rugby, Pichot declares himself "worried" by the weekly accounts of injury crises at different clubs and countries. High on the agenda at the next meeting of World Rugby's executive committee will be the load that players are subjected to in training. "The load of training that the professional game is bringing is too much," Pichot said. "If you train at the maximum intensity you are fatigued and you are going to get injured. I think we should attack the amount of training in the professional game." The flip side to being a fierce supporter of player welfare is a recognition that the escalating cost of players' wages is damaging the sport's long-term sustainability. Pichot does not pretend to know all the answers to these various problems, but he knows where to find them. Dialogue between the game's stakeholders, from unions and players to private equity, he says, is essential. World Rugby had never met representatives from French and English clubs until last year when they discussed the long-term calendar. "You can't solve these problems unless everyone is in the same room together," Pichot said. "What we have not done since 1995 is to get everyone aligned. That is very difficult with money and egos.

"I played with the best 40 guys in our country so egos are the easy thing to handle. The biggest thing for me is that people don't like confrontation. Why are you telling me outside of this room that you want to change the Six Nations and then you get in and don't say anything? This is what disturbs me. People will say I am naive about politics but the game should be bigger than politics. Loading "I love the challenge. I wouldn't be here otherwise. Everyone tells me it's impossible. It is a personal thing, I wouldn't leave my family on the other side of the world if I didn't think I was doing something right." Telegraph, London