First round As expected, the leading nations all made it through. However, only South Africa, New Zealand and Western Samoa could boast unbeaten records at this stage. Fiji, Australia, Tonga, Ireland and England all lost one match in their respective pools. In Pool A Wales, lost to South Africa but distinguished themselves against the powerhouse of sevens rugby, Fiji, coming back from 21–0 down to lose narrowly 21–17. South Africa managed to overcome Fiji in their pool match. In Pool B Ireland had an excellent first round, beating United States 38–0. They lost to New Zealand, who won the group, but finished second. Korea defeated France 14–0 and the French struggled to beat the Netherlands in an earlier tie. However, the French managed to qualify for the Bowl in fourth place, with the surprise being Korea making the Plate competition in third. In Pool C, the hosts Scotland finished fourth behind Argentina in third (although they ended with the same number of match points as the South Americans and had a better points difference they had lost to the Argentinians). The Scots managed to beat eventual group winners Tonga but lost to Australia and Argentina. Both Tonga and Australia lost one match each, and crucially Tonga beat the decider between the two sides meaning that Australia ended second in that group. In Pool D, eventual tournament winners England progressed well but were beaten by the Samoans but 28–10. Samoa went on to win the pool. Despite heavy defeats to England and Samoa, Spain managed to gain third spot just ahead of Canada.
Quarterfinals The quarterfinals were not knockout but took the form of another round robin with the teams split into two groups. Fiji emerged as the only nation with an unbeaten record after overcoming Ireland, Tonga and Western Samoa in the first. The second group was more fiercely contested with each nation claiming at least one victory. Australia and England who progressed to the semifinals despite their respective defeats by New Zealand and Australia. England had assumed they would top their group and avoid Fiji, even with a defeat to Australia in the final pool game. They opted to rest some first team players but expressed dismay in finding themselves placed second in the group behind Australia. The England team had thought that table placings in the event of a tied points tally were decided on tries scored. However, tournament rules stated that the first differentiator was results between the tied teams.
Cup semifinals and finals Although England lost to Australia in the quarters, they qualified for the semifinals against the favourites, Fiji.
Dave Scully produced what was awarded the "Moment of the Tournament" prize with a tackle on
Mesake Rasari that turned a certain Fiji try into an England score. England won 21–7. In the other semifinal Ireland were narrowly beaten 21–19 by the Australians, setting up a final between teams that had already met in the quarterfinal pools. The final was contested by England and Australia. Just before half time, England led 21–0 through tries from
Andrew Harriman,
Lawrence Dallaglio and
Tim Rodber, all converted by
Nick Beal.
Michael Lynagh scored a try before half time, but failed to convert his own try. In the second half Australia hit back strongly and first
David Campese and then
Semi Taupeaafe scored further tries, the latter also converted by Michael Lynagh. However, time ran out on the Australians and it was England captain "Prince"
Andrew Harriman who was presented with the
Melrose Cup by the
Princess Royal.
Adedayo Adebayo, a member of that victorious side later recalled how surprising the victory had been to the players involved in it. He said ''"We were basically a scratch side. We got together for the first time as a team the week before, played one practice match and went on to win! But there were a lot of quality players in that side and looking back that's why we were able to wing it slightly – the talent came through. Looking back though we had no expectations of winning at the start. We didn't know how far we would go. It just happened."''
Plate and Bowl In the Plate competition, Spain stunned Wales, winning 10–7. Argentina dominated South Korea and came through 24–0. They went on to win the final 19–12 against Spain. Of the four teams contesting the Bowl, Scotland and France met in the semi-final. Scotland overcame the lacklustre French side 14–7, and Japan posted 14 points to Canada's nil to reach the final. Japan beat the hosts in the final winning 33–19. Princess Anne awarded the prizes and Scotland received tankards. ==Group stage==