World Rugby chairman Bill Beaumont has said that the three-year eligibility rule is being reviewed.

“We are constantly reviewing all our laws and this is one we are looking at,” Beaumont told reporters at the World Rugby Conference on Monday.

“My colleague (vice-chairman Augustin Pichot) does have a passion about it. It’s something we need to keep looking at as there are different eligibility rules for the Olympics and other sports.

“We consult the unions, we make the recommendations but they decide. We’ll put a group together within World Rugby, elected members and external too as we don’t want to be too insular. It will be discussed during executive meeting on Wednesday and might go to Council after that discussion.

“All 126 unions will be consulted but if there is going to be any change it would be in 12 months or so.”

World Rugby's CEO Brett Gosper said there had not been much appetite to change the residency rule to five years when the issue was raised 18 months ago.

“This time the approach will be more holistic,” he said. “We’ll be looking at eligibility, residency, the grandparent rule, player movement, the Olympics etc. We might end up in the same place but we may not.”

Beaumont said the other key issue he is desperately trying to address, with limited success, is settling on a unified world calendar for the sport.

With domestic leagues taking a conflicting approach to some unions, and something of a gulf between southern and northern hemispheres, finding common ground has proved difficult for years.

“I came in thinking it was something I could sort our pretty quickly, but I found otherwise,” said Beaumont, who took over as chairman in May.

“It’s challenging. Emotions run high but everyone agrees we have to find a solution.

“I’m hopeful that by early next year we’ll reach a solution but there is no easy answer. Number one of course is player welfare, we can’t play more than once a week, we have to have certain rest periods and it’s essential that welfare is factored in first.”