Kong tournament had 24 teams. In each 16-team tournament, the teams were divided into pools of four teams, who played a round-robin within the pool. Points were awarded in each pool on a different schedule from most rugby tournaments—3 for a win, 2 for a draw, 1 for a loss. The first tiebreaker was the head-to-head result between the tied teams, followed by difference in points scored during the tournament. Four trophies were awarded in each tournament. In descending order of prestige, they were the Cup, whose winner was the overall tournament champion, Plate, Bowl and Shield. The Shield was contested in Hong Kong for the first time in 2010. Each trophy was awarded at the end of a knockout tournament. In a 16-team tournament, the top two teams in each pool advanced to the Cup competition. The four quarterfinal losers dropped into the bracket for the Plate. The Bowl was contested by the third- and fourth-place finishers in each pool, with the losers in the Bowl quarterfinals dropping into the bracket for the Shield. The Hong Kong Sevens adopted a new structure effective with its 2010 edition. As in previous years, the 24 teams were divided into six pools of four teams each, with the competition points system and tiebreakers identical to those for a 16-team event. Also as in the past, the six pool winners and the two top second-place finishers advanced to the Cup competition. The Plate competition was contested by the losing quarterfinalists from the Cup, as in all other events in the series. The Bowl was contested by the four remaining second-place finishers and the top four third-place finishers. The Shield was contested by the remaining eight entrants. Final standings The points awarded to teams at each event, as well as the overall season totals, are shown in the table below. Points for the event winners are indicated in bold. A zero (0) is recorded in the event column where a team competed in a tournament but did not gain any points. A dash (–) is recorded in the event column if a team did not compete at a tournament. {| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;" |+ 2010–11 IRB Sevens – Series IX ! style="border-bottom:1px solid transparent;"|Pos. ! ! style="vertical-align:top;width:5.5em;border-bottom:1px solid transparent;padding:2px;font-size:85%;"|Dubai ! style="vertical-align:top;width:5.5em;border-bottom:1px solid transparent;padding:2px;font-size:85%;"|George ! style="vertical-align:top;width:5.5em;border-bottom:1px solid transparent;padding:2px;font-size:85%;"|Wellington ! style="vertical-align:top;width:5.5em;border-bottom:1px solid transparent;padding:2px;font-size:85%;"|Las Vegas ! style="vertical-align:top;width:5.5em;border-bottom:1px solid transparent;padding:2px;font-size:85%;"|Hong Kong ! style="vertical-align:top;width:5.5em;border-bottom:1px solid transparent;padding:2px;font-size:85%;"|Adelaide ! style="vertical-align:top;width:5.5em;border-bottom:1px solid