"To highlight the growth of Sevens, one of the of the key recommendations of the IRB Strategic Plan for Women's Rugby developed last year was the introduction of a Women's Rugby World Cup Sevens with the aim of providing an elite level of women's Sevens tournament which will raise the profile of the Women's Game on a global scale. It is the first time that there has been a major focus on the Women's Game and the introduction of an integrated tournament is not just an exciting development for Women's rugby, but also Rugby Sevens," added Dr Millar.

"The Strategic Plan for Women's Rugby is designed to increase the competitiveness and profile of Women's Rugby on a global scale through a number of high performance, management and tournament initiatives, and the introduction of an integrated Rugby World Cup Sevens tournament is a key initiative," explained IRB Council Member with responsibility for Women's Rugby Chris Le Fevre.

"The IRB believes that an integrated Rugby World Cup Sevens, allied to the ever increasing number of participating Unions and healthy attendance and broadcast figures, further re-enforce Rugby Sevens' strong case for introduction into the Olympic Games sporting programme," added Dr Millar.