One year out from the Rugby World Cup, the body representing rugby players worldwide has put the breaks on talks to drive a football-esque expansion of the sport's showpiece event.

International Rugby Players (IRP) says World Rugby should prioritise the welfare and conditions of players from tier-two nations before entertaining thoughts of expanding the World Cup from 20 to 24 teams in the future.

Expanding: World Rugby CEO Brett Gosper says it's a matter of when, not if, the World Cup gets bigger. Credit:PA

The idea was canvassed by World Rugby chief executive Brett Gosper this week but IRP boss Omar Hassanein told Fairfax Media rugby needed to bridge the gap between its tier one and two nations first.

"Football is the benchmark, there’s no doubt about that. There’s top teams like Italy who can’t make the top 32 in a World Cup let alone the 16 or eight," Hassanein said. "But if we want to be a sport that has that real uncertainty about who’s going to be in the quarter-finals of a World Cup then the key is strengthening the tier two band. That’s got to happen before expanding."