The winner of the competition's top division is recognised as the rugby champion of Asia.

[1] Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea and Thailand contested the inaugural Asian title.

During the time of this competition, the main Five Nations division was dominated by Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong; the only three teams never to have been relegated to a lower division.

Under the new format, the top three teams formed a Tri nations division.

A promotion-relegation challenge was instituted whereby the Division 1 winner had to defeat the Tri nations third place-getter to gain promotion for the next season.

This is because, the teams competing in the West region, are not considered as full members by World Rugby.

In 2015 in the main Tri Nations division, each team played each other on a home and away basis, picking up 5 points for a win and 3 for a draw.

For all Divisions, 1 through to 3, nations will only play each other once, with one of the included teams hosting all matches at home.

Instead of returning to the trinations for 2019, Japan played the Pacific Nations to prepare for the World Cup.