 The top two teams from each group progress to the quarterfinals to compete for the Cup (places 1-4) and Plate (places 5-8).The bottom two teams from each group participate in the Bowl (places 9-12) and Shield (places 13-16) competitions.Through the 2011–12 edition, the sixteen participating teams were the 12 "core" members of the Sevens World Series circuit, along with 4 additional qualifying teams—other teams that qualified multiple times during the 2009–2012 span included Japan, Canada, Uruguay and Guyana.