French newspaper L’Equipe has reported that the 64-year-old Jeffrey has written a letter of intent to officials during the Rugby World Cup in Paris.

"We need to modify the structures in a bold, radical and at the same time feasible way,” Jeffery, elected vice-chairman of World Rugby unopposed earlier this year to replace the disgraced Frenchman Bernard Laporte, wrote.

“I will write a manifesto unlike any that has ever been submitted to you, which will aim to protect the values of our sport while creating a sustainable economic model that will help everyone move forward, without exception, regardless of the place in the world where you play rugby."

Jeffery is said to be concerned about the financial state of the sport, which has seen leading English club Wasps, Worcester Warriors and London Irish enter administration recently.

Argentina’s former captain Augustin Pichot, who lost a bid to unseat Sir Bill in 2020, has criticised World Rugby leadership for lacking vision and focusing too much on the leading nations like England and France.

"The system is bad but rather than sitting down to fundamentally rethink it, they are operating in survival mode," Pichot had told L'Equipe.

"More money goes out than comes in, clubs disappear in England [a reference to clubs such as London Irish and Worcester Warriors that have gone into administration] but they retreat into their own little world and want closed circuits to protect themselves.

It is understood that Sir Bill, first elected in May 2016 to replace Frenchman replace Bernard Lapasset, will step down when his current term ends in November 2024. 

Jeffrey played 40 times for Scotland and was a member of the team which reached the 1991 Rugby World Cup semi-final before losing to England at Murrayfield.

In 1988 he was also famously suspended after an incident with England Dean Richards in which they damaged the Calcutta Cup, the trophy awarded to the winners of the Scotland versus England match, during an escapade on Edinburgh’s Princes Street.

Jeffrey was a British and Irish Lion on the successful tour of Australia in 1989, although he did not play in a test.

He has been a member of the World Rugby World Council since 2010 - when it was called the International Rugby Board and has served as chairman of World Rugby's Rugby and Match Official Selection Committee.

Jeffrey was chairman of the Scottish Rugby Board between December 2020 and May 2023, when he took up at his new role with World Rugby.

A farmer by profession, he has also worked in the media.