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The chief executive of rugby’s governing body believes it is a question of "when, not if" the sport’s World Cup is held in the United States.

Japan will become the first nation from outside rugby’s elite to host the four-yearly showpiece in 2019, and International Rugby Board (IRB) boss Mike Miller claimed this week that the United States or Russia could soon follow.

“It’s a question of when – not if – it’s going to happen,” Miller said.

Rugby’s profile has been boosted by the inclusion of its seven-a-side discipline in the Summer Olympics from 2016, and the IRB wants to use the elite World Cup to spread participation in a sport played to its highest level in few nations outside Europe and Australasia.

Rugby is set for further exposure in the US next year when NBC broadcasts the World Cup from New Zealand in the United States for the first time.

The IRB last year awarded England the 2015 World Cup hosting rights at the same time as giving the 2019 edition to Japan, which has participated in every tournament since it was first staged in 1987 but has won only once in 20 matches.

Miller revealed he hoped to continue the practice of choosing two hosts at a time since it allowed the IRB to make a big profit in an established nation before taking a relative gamble on a country that would never otherwise get the chance.

The strategy also gives the lesser nation more time to prepare and work with its more experienced predecessor.

“If you only award one at a time, because all of our funding depends upon [the] Rugby World Cup, you’re more likely to take the safe, conservative option,” Miller continued. “If you do two together, you can take a longer-term view. You can say, ‘2015, that’s England, that’s a banker. Loads of money, that’ll work – full stadia, great press coverage’.

“Japan should work and should spread rugby in Asia. Coupled with England? Great, let’s do it. Japan versus England? Not quite so sure.”

Such a process could take the World Cup to the United States in 2027, but Russia may be ahead in the queue because its Games would be broadcast at a time more accessible to rugby’s heartlands.

“We need to grow the game all over the world and Asia’s a huge market,” Miller added. “Europe’s a big market with 300 million, but then you look at India and China and you see 2.5 billion.”

The United States also needs to show that the World Cup would leave a suitable legacy in the country.

“There’s no doubt they can hold it,” Miller said. “There’s no point having it if you then don’t have the infrastructure in place to benefit from it. We would need to see what happens as a result of the exposure on NBC and the Olympics as Rio gets closer.

“It’s too early to tell what will happen in the USA in the next three or four years. It will be crucial seeing 2016 and Rio if the US qualify. There’s no doubt the game is growing in the US – it’s just a question of how fast it is growing.”