At the centre of an action-packed 2016, the men's and women's HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series will visit new locations as the world's top teams and players prepare for the Olympic Games.

Global qualification process for 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan is also due to begin in 2016.

The year will also see World Rugby look to maintain its commitment to prioritising investment in player welfare, anti-doping and development programmes.

The quadrennial law review process is aso due to begin closed law trials across domestic competitions with the dual aim of game-simplification and player welfare enhancement.

"If 2015 was a record-breaking year, then 2016 will be game-changing as the Olympic Games provides an exciting opportunity for the world's top teams to showcase the dynamism and excitement of rugby sevens on sport's biggest stage," said Lapasset.

"Collectively we have long since embraced the Olympic opportunity, which is a major and exciting catalyst behind record participation growth with Governments, National Olympic Committees and educational structures embracing and investing in a sport that has multiple social and performance benefits from the playground to the podium.

"Preparation for Rugby World Cup 2019 in Japan, the first time our showcase event has been staged in Asia, will continue to accelerate in 2016.

"This is a very exciting time for rugby in Japan following the feats of the national team at Rugby World Cup 2015 and with the venues locked down, the tournament dates set and a new and vibrant tournament logo launched, planning is in great shape as Japan begins its first year as Rugby World Cup host."

Lapasset, Co-President of Paris’ bid to host the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, assumed office as World Rugby chairman in January 2008 and was re-elected for a second term in December 2011.

It remains unclear, however, whether he will run for a third spell with the election due to take place at the annual meeting of World Rugby’s 28-member Council in Dublin on May 11.

Possible challengers to Lapasset include England’s Bill Beaumont and Octavian Morariu of Romania who, unlike Lapasset, is an International Olympic Committee member.

World Rugby claims one million children were introduced to the game in 2015 via its Get Into Rugby project, and that global participation is set to top eight million this year.

It comes on the back of the 2015 Rugby World Cup being declared as the biggest and best ever by tournament owners and organisers in the immediate aftermath in November. 

World Rugby and England Rugby 2015 hailed the success of the event, which concluded on October 31 when New Zealand beat Australia to defend their crown in front of a sell-out 80,125 crowd at Twickenham Stadium in London.

A number of records were broken off the pitch with ticket sales eclipsing 2.47 million across all the matches, the official fanzone attendance surpassing the one million mark, and Wembley Stadium drawing two consecutive Rugby World Cup attendance records.

A total of 89,267 turned out to watch Ireland’s clash with Romania on September 27, breaking the previous record of 89,019 for New Zealand's victory over Argentina the previous week.

"Undoubtedly, 2015 was an exceptional and record-breaking year for rugby on and off the field with record participation growth and an incredible Rugby World Cup 2015 showcasing the very best of our sport, reaching and inspiring audiences in new and exciting ways," said Lapasset. 

"Across 48 matches during September and October, a truly global celebration of rugby delivered the most compelling and competitive tournament to date, attracting record attendances in stadia and reaching and engaging with record broadcast, digital and social audiences in existing and, significantly, new nations worldwide. 

"Off the field, rugby continued to grow at a record pace.

"Driven by World Rugby's investment programme and the increasing halo-effect of Olympic inclusion, global participation topped 7.2 million, while an additional one million boys and girls were introduced to the sport via World Rugby's Get Into Rugby mass-participation programme with major growth experienced in Africa, Asia and the Americas. 

"The year also saw us announce wide-ranging historic reform of our governance structures, which will pave the way for wider representation and greater independence within our decision-making structures, leading to a renewed strategic plan in 2016 and within it the blueprint for continued sustainable growth."

Lapasset adds that the bidding process for the 2023 Rugby World Cup will "continue to gather pace this year" with Ireland, France, Italy and South Africa all having made formal expressions of interest.

The 2023 World Cup hosts are due to be announced in May 2017, with a confirmation of tender deadline in June 2016.

"We are delighted with the strong level of hosting interest from unions and Governments, which highlights the enormous appeal of Rugby World Cup as a low-risk, high-return economic, social and sporting driver," said Lapasset. 

"We look forward to further detailed and exciting dialogue as the process progresses this year.

"These are unprecedented times for rugby and while we grow throughout 2016 and beyond we must ensure that our sport stays true to its character-building values and continues to promote and protect integrity through good governance and robust anti-doping programmes, with the welfare of players at all levels remaining firmly at the heart of all that we do."