The tournament (known as the FNB Varsity Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the eleventh season of the Varsity Cup, an annual inter-university rugby union competition featuring South African universities.

During the round-robin stage of the competition, these teams played each other once over the course of the season, either home or away.

The winners of these semi-finals played each other in the final, at the home venue of the higher-placed team.

If the try-scoring move originated in the opponents' half, it would count five points.

For the 2018 season, the Varsity Cup introduced a Power Play rule; when a team calls for the Power Play, they can nominate two opposition backline players to be removed from the field of play for a period of three minutes.