Wales are the current men's world champions, having won the tournament in Dubai four years ago and will defend their title at Moscow later this month. 

Under the plans proposed by the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU), the event would be staged at the 74,500-capacity Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, with some matches taking place at the Cardiff City Stadium. 

The WRU are currently working with the Welsh Government and Cardiff City Council in an effort to bring the competition to Britain for the first time since Scotland hosted the inaugural tournament in 1993, when it was staged at Murrayfield in Edinburgh and England beat Australia 21-17 in the final.


The women's event was added for the first time at Dubai in 2009, when Australia lifted the trophy, beating New Zealand 15-10 in the final. 

The 2018 event, like this year's tournament, will include the men's and women's competition.

The profile of the event has grown considerably in the last 20 years and is expected to continue to raise with the sport's debut on the Olympic programme at Rio 2016. 

"Sevens is growing across the world," said Roger Lewis, chief executive of the WRU.

"It will be in the Olympic Games in 2016 and the Olympic Games in 2020.

"We are preparing a bid to bring the Rugby World Cup Sevens to Cardiff in 2018.

"That's five years hence because the IRB (International Rugby Board) have decided to move the Rugby World Cup Sevens to fit between those two Olympic events.

"I've informed the IRB that we're doing this and the IRB have kept me informed of the process they are working to.

"Hopefully over the course of the next six months we'll know if we're successful or not."


But Wales will face tough opposition from Singapore, who are proposing its new futuristic Sports Hub, due for completion in 2014, as the venue.

The development will include a new state-of-the-art 55,000-capacity National Stadium.

The tiny city-state was part of the IRB World Sevens Series until 2006.

The fact that the 15-a-side Rugby World Cup is due to be held in Japan in 2019 could help its bid, claimed Low Teo Ping, President of the Singapore Rugby Union. 

"We have a good chance because Japan is hosting the 15s World Cup in 2019 so Singapore can offer a good lead-in tournament in Asia one year earlier," he said.

France and the United States are also reportedly considering bids.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]