 The hosts, South Africa, were defeated 19–12 by Australia in the Cup quarterfinals but ended the tournament by beating Samoa 22–12 in the Plate final whilst defending World Sevens Series champions New Zealand defeated defending South Africa Sevens champions Fiji 34–5 in the Cup final.The teams were drawn into four pools of four teams each.Each team played the other teams in their pool once, with 3 points awarded for a win, 2 points for a draw, and 1 point for a loss (no points awarded for a forfeit).