The competition involves twelve teams that are divided into two zones (North and South).

The tournament will be used as the first stage of qualification for Rugby World Cup 2011.

The top two teams will progress in the World Cup and in the Africa Cup, which will be the main tournament for the African qualifiers.

Swaziland, Nigeria and Botswana have been added to the qualification process as they possess an IRB ranking.

A two-legged playoff between the two lowest ranked teams from the south (Botswana and Swaziland) and the two lowest ranked teams from the north (Cameroon and Nigeria) will begin the tournament to take the competition numbers from 14 to 12 to make the group stage four groups of three teams.