Next year Russia will play host to the 24 men's and 16 women's international teams competing at Rugby World Cup Sevens 2013.

The 2009 edition in Dubai proved a giant step forward for Rugby with the women's game taking its place alongside the men's for the first time. Both the organisation and the action on the pitch went a long way to convincing the IOC that Rugby in general, and Sevens in particular, was a good fit for the Olympic Games.

With that kind of precedence now behind it, the 2013 tournament will be by far the biggest rugby event to have been held in Russia.

In an ideal world, the hosts would have been taking part on the 2012/13 HSBC Sevens World Series, but competition for the three additional core team places on the circuit next year proved too tough in Hong Kong.

"I drew up the plans of where we were going and what we were aiming for and things haven't gone to plan," admitted Russia's new Sevens coach Henry Paul, who played rugby league for New Zealand before switching to compete in both 15s and Sevens for England.

"These have been the first two tournaments with the team and I think I'm a little further down the track in terms of where we need to go.

Paul: Learning the size the challenge

"We could only prepare with a couple of camps and, on reflection, when you look at what the other nations are doing and the preparation they were putting in, we underestimated it but I'm up to speed now with what's going on around the world, how much time these other teams are spending together and how dedicated they are to Sevens."

The three new core places went to Canada, Portugal and Spain, the latter nation perhaps surprising many with their rise in level, a result of working together four days a week at Spain's high-tech Olympic Training Centre.

Russia performed heroics in qualifying for last year's Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, a feat that has raised expectations across the board, but compared with the likes of Canada and Portugal their Sevens programme is still in its developmental stages.

"We've not really got a history of great Sevens, the odd big win, but we've learnt a lot, produced some good rugby at times, but also made too many errors," added Paul.

"That's a little down to preparation, a little down to individuals but we'll get better. That's my remit: to make sure these players improve using my experience of the circuit.

RWC Sevens 'massive' for Russia

"The speed and intensity of the Sevens is unforgiving and we've been up against teams who have competed a lot on this World Series, whereas we haven't played at all, and we haven't been far off. We've had our chances and in Sevens you must take your chances. Canada were hardened, they were streetwise and we were caught a bit off-guard. I'd like to see how we are in a year's time."

By that time, both on and off the pitch Russian Rugby will be checking off the last few boxes prior to hosting Rugby World Cup Sevens and Paul is confident that the country is on track.

"It's massive for our country. Sevens is a game a lot of people will take to in Russia. It's a steep learning curve at the moment, we haven't got the infrastructure or the facilities for rugby that a lot of these other nations have, but we're passionate about the game, the players are talented enough to win consistently if we get the game plan right. Club rugby lacks a bit of structure in Russia and we're playing catch-up.

"Glasgow and London, the final two rounds of the World Series, can't come fast enough for us because we need to play more tournaments."