 Building on the changes made for the 2012 Hong Kong Sevens, in which two separate 12-team competitions were contested, the International Rugby Board (IRB) expanded the event to a total of 28 teams, again divided into two competitions.The main draw consisted of 16 teams—the same number that were involved in all regular series events.The contestants were the 15 core teams guaranteed of places in each series event, plus Hong Kong, which qualified as winner of the 2012 HSBC Asian Sevens Series.