The success of recent events such as last year’s Rugby World Cup in Britain and the sevens tournaments in Rio, where a thrilling final victory earned Fiji’s men their country’s first Olympic medal, has given the sport’s world governing body the chance to develop still further.  

"We are reinvesting the income we get from the Rugby World Cup, the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series and the Olympic revenue back into the game," World Rugby’s chief executive Brett Gosper told insidethegames.

"We anticipate spending about £245 million in the next Olympic cycle, which is about 22 per cent up on the previous four-year cycle.

"That money will be going to the grassroots of the sport, and part of it will be directed at creating a second tier of men’s teams in our HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series which gets underway in Dubai on December 2.

"It’s not going to be practical to introduce that this coming season, but I’m confident we can do it within the next four-year cycle, and probably in time for the 2017-18 season. 

"We would also be looking at relegation and promotion between the two tiers, depending on how we end up dividing them.

"It’s likely that we will stick with our current core of 16 top nations and have a smaller tier beneath that. 

"That is likely to engage promising nations such as Germany, Brazil and maybe Russia.

"I think there’s lots of add room left in terms of rugby sevens’ geographic footprint. 

"I also think the future will see a lot more local and regional tournaments.  

"And teams like Germany, China, Brazil and Russia will soon be knocking on the door to the top events.

"And the sooner such countries have the possibility of involvement in the Olympics, the more investment will be made into their rugby.

"We are expecting huge interest at Tokyo 2020 just a year after we have held the Rugby World Cup in Japan.

"If the 2024 Games go to Paris - France has probably the largest commercial rugby market. 

"If they go to Los Angeles, then they are going to the United States, where rugby is the fastest growing team sport. 

"If they go to Budapest, that would also provide us with great opportunities in new areas.

"Involvement in the Rio Games was estimated to have attracted more than 16 million new followers to rugby.

"There was a big uptake from a range of relatively new territories such as the US, Germany, Holland and areas of South America and Asia.

"For us it was excellent in terms of widening the development of the game."

Fiji’s Olympic victory was mirrored on the women’s side by an outstanding gold medal-winning performance from Australia, and Gosper identifies the women’s game as one of the most dynamic areas within the sport.

"We are seeing numbers in terms of overall participation in sevens around the world at about eight million," he said. 

"We estimate that around 30 per cent of those are women, and over the next five to 10 years we would expect that to rise to around 40 per cent.

"That’s where most of the growth will come from. 

"There’s a debate about how quickly that will happen, but we estimate it will go a percentage point every year. 

"I don’t know at what point that growth will flatten out, but we are seeing a huge rise of participation and interest in the women’s game, particularly since the Olympics."

The women will be involved along with the men next week as their HSBC Series also kicks off in Dubai, with four subsequent tournaments scheduled in Sydney in Australia, Kitakyushu in Japan, Langford in Canada and Clermont-Ferrand in France.

"We will be looking to add a sixth tournament to the women’s programme," Gosper added.

"This year we will have two tournaments where the men and women will be involved - Sydney stepped up to the plate to put on an event which will involve Australia’s winners of the female Olympic title, and Dubai will also feature competition for both the men and the women. 

"Expanding on that will take a little time, although that is our intention."

Read the full Big Read interview with Brett Gosper here.