People can be forgiven for doing a double-take when looking at this years sevens draw as there are confirmed New Zealand sides in the competition. The two teams are the New Zealand Residents team, a side made up of local players from the NZRL's local bartercard  cup competition, and the second is the NRL's New Zealand Warriors sevens side.

A third New Zealand side, New Zealand Maori has a possibility to qualify for wildcard entry. The sevens tournament runs a preliminary competition for wildcard entries to one of two positions in the sevens cup competition. The teams vying for these positions will be:

• American Samoa
• Balmain Tigers
• Cook Island
• Italy
• Japan
• NASCA Aborigines
• Newton Jets
• New South Wales Country
• New Zealand Maori
• North Sydney Bears
• United States
• Western Suburb Magpies

The Actual Pool Draw:

• Pool A
  Parramatta Eels
  Cronulla Sharks
  Qualifier 1
  Widnes Vikings
  
  Pool B
  Penrith Panthers
  Wests Tigers
  South Sydney Rabbitohs
  Canberra Raiders
  
  Pool C
  Canterbury Bulldogs
  St George / Illawarra Dragons
  Lebanon
  Melbourne Storm
  
  Pool D
  Sydney Roosters
  Brisbane Broncos
  North Queensland Cowboys
  New Zealand Residents
  
  Pool E
  Newcastle Knights
  New Zealand Warriors
  Manly Sea Eagles
  Qualifier 2
  
  Pool F
  France
  Tonga
  Fiji
  
  Pool G:
  Russia
  Samoa
  Papa New Guinea
   

Posted 4thJanuary, 2004