Laporte to head French rugby federation

Marcoussis - Former French sports minister Bernard Laporte was elected by a landslide on Saturday to lead the French rugby federation.

Laporte, a former national rugby selector, won 85% of the votes for president of the federation and his supporters won a majority of seats on the board of directors.

Laporte, currently head coach at elite French club Toulon, has pledged to reform the federation whose administration he recently likened, for its lack of openness, to North Korea.

"This campaign gave rise to numerous hopes. We pledged to exchange, to reform, to change the federation, make it more helpful, simpler, more generous and vital and we intend to do that," he said the election.

"We pledged to put the clubs at the centre of our life and we will do that."

The 52-year-old who was sports minister under President Nicolas Sarkozy from 2007-2009 campaigned against what he said was the lack of transparency of the federation and its failure to represent the France's 1,900 clubs.

Laporte also campaigned against the building of a new national rugby stadium favoured by the outgoing federation leadership.