The 68-year-old took up the post as head of rugby’s governing body in January 2008 and was re-elected for a second term in December 2011.

World Rugby is currently building towards the Olympic debut of rugby sevens at Rio 2016 after Lapasset played a key role in the campaign to have the sport added to the programme. 

The election to lead World Rugby is scheduled to take place on May 11 in Dublin at the annual meeting of the 28-person ruling Council. 

Lapasset's future in the post has been unclear since the Frenchman took up the co-chairmanship of Paris’ bid for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games in September, joining three-time Olympic champion canoeist Tony Estanguet.

Lapasset last year oversaw a record-breaking World Cup in England and Wales but has indicated that an announcement will be made on his future at World Rugby shortly, revealing his key focus was on the Paris 2024 Olympic bid.

“I will concentrate my vision to the Olympic Games,” Lapasset told insidethegames, at the official logo launch of Paris 2024 here tonight. 

“For my position now I have to be sure that I can deliver the best messaging and work.

“I am continuing my job in the Olympics and have to decide whether to step down [from] my position in rugby.

“It will be around March, because we have elections coming up in May.”

England’s Bill Beaumont and Octavian Morariu of Romania who, unlike Lapasset, is an International Olympic Committee (IOC) member, have been touted as possible candidates for the election.

A key upcoming date for Lapasset will be February 17, when the four 2024 Olympic and Paralympic candidates cities must hand in the first part of their Candidature File to the IOC.

The submission is due to cover the city's vision, Games concept and strategy.

Lapasset is confident the the Parisian bid has a strong vision and will be able to deliver their message to the IOC in the coming months.

"The vision is to support the values of the Olympics first, we have the colour of the Olympics inside the logo," he said.

“The colour of the Olympics and its values are included in the bid, we have to create a very strong message for the IOC members.

“We to promote our innovation, we have to deliver the message that Paris has a lot of creative industries.

“That is what we tried to include to show that the site would be a very strong location for the Games, for the athletes and that is an important point we have to deliver for this first part."

Budapest, Los Angeles and Rome are also in the running for the Games.

The IOC is due to announce a winner at its Session in Peru's capital Lima in 2017.