Rugby bosses will know “by the end of the year” whether to alter the three-year residency rule that has handed Scotland the services of Josh Strauss but robbed Fiji of Nathan Hughes.

Governing body World Rugby launched a wide-ranging review into the residency rule in May, with chief executive Brett Gosper now targeting completion before January.

Every Test nation has been asked to submit their views on a regulation that continues to polarise opinion.

Wasps’ Fijian number eight Hughes will qualify for England in June 2016, and rejected the chance to represent the Pacific island nation of his birth at the World Cup.

Glasgow’s South Africa-born flanker Strauss becomes eligible for Scotland through residency just five days before their World Cup opener against Japan on Wednesday.

“We’ve asked every member union if they stand by and support the three-year residency rule,” Gosper told PA Sport.

“We need to monitor and protect the integrity and perception of the game as an international game, as differentiated from the club game. We’ve no reason to believe that integrity is eroding, but now we just need to see if the unions are happy with that.”

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