World Rugby

Rugby's return to the Games after a 92-year absence could not have gone better for those promoting the sport as Fiji won their first Olympic medal with exhilarating play while Australia won a women's event widely praised for the quality on show.

Research carried out for World Rugby claimed that in six surveyed markets - France, Japan, the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany and the United States - fan numbers have grown by almost 17 million as a direct result of Olympic inclusion.

  Ryan will be joined by former Samoan captain and current Connacht head coach Pat Lam, who led the Irish province to its first major trophy with victory in the Guinness PRO12 earlier this year.

 Former England and British and Irish Lions international Nigel Redman, who coached the England U20 team before taking up a position as Head of Performance Team Development at British Swimming in 2014, completes the Future of coaching — creating a winning culture panel.

Following a stellar year for international rugby, the shortlists feature players who have excited and inspired fans around the world with their feats this year.

The nominees for World Rugby Men’s Player of the Year 2016 are: Beauden Barrett (New Zealand), Dane Coles (New Zealand), Owen Farrell (England), Jamie Heaslip (Ireland), Maro Itoje (England) and Billy Vunipola (England).

The nominees for World Rugby Women’s Player of the Year 2016 are: Fiao’o Fa’amausili (New Zealand), Sarah Hunter (England) and Gaëlle Mignot (France).

Kaveni Talemaivavalagi and Tevita Rokovereni have been named in a new-look panel of whistleblowers to referee on the men's circuit, which kicks off in Dubai in December.

27 year old teacher Kaveni Talemaivavalagi started refereeing while still in sixth form at Laucala Bay High School but has built up a lot of sevens experience over the past decade.

The World Rugby funded tournament replaces the former Pacific Rugby Challenge and aims to boost the high-performance pathway for tier-two nations.

Samoa A have been drawn in Pool A, alongside the Argentina XV and USA Selects, with Fiji Warriors, Canada A and Uruguay A in Pool B.

Teams will play each side in their opposite pool once, with the placing determined on total points after the three rounds.

World Rugby Vice-Chairm Agustín Pichot said the tournament is part of the governing body's strategy to boost tier-two teams in a World Cup cycle.

With global participation and competitiveness at an all-time high and World Rugby committed to closing the performance gap, the global governing body has injected approximately £34 million for the period 2012-15 directly into the 10 tier two nations participating in Rugby World Cup 2015.

This money will underwrite a package of programmes aimed at reducing the competition gap with the 10 tier one nations.

In addition, World Rugby has indirectly invested a further £16m in unions via high performance competitions to enhance the pathway to the Rugby World Cup for teams.