 The same eight countries entered the qualification stages, but to avoid the scorelines witnessed in the previous competition, it was held on a three-stage basis; Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand competing in the first round-robin (with Sri Lanka going through); Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Taiwan in the second round (with Taiwan progressing); and then Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan in the third round.Japan again emerged victorious, with a 134–6 win over Taiwan going some way to regain the pride lost in the finals in South Africa four years earlier.South Korea took part in the repechage, beating Holland 108–45 on aggregate in the first round, before losing 140–41 over two legs to Tonga.