It was held in Christchurch, New Zealand, from 21 September to 2 October 1999 and featured 26 teams with the debut of Niue, Tonga and Zambia.

Australia defended its seventh title defeating New Zealand in the final on a final-second shot by Sharelle McMahon, after coming back from six goals down at three-quarter time.

The competition started with two days of sixteen teams contesting in two rounds of knockout matches for the four remaining spots in the main competition, the remaining twelve teams entered the consolation round.

[6] Day two of the 1999 edition saw the remaining eight teams in the preliminary round ply in four matches to determine the final four spots in the top 16.

In the biggest victory of the day, Fiji defeated Zambia by twenty nine goals off the back of a blistering start while fellow Pacific neighbours Tonga lost their second round match to Northern Ireland after conceding sixteen goals in the third quarter while only scoring five.