Since 2011, the tournament has been contested by national 'A' sides, although some matches also featured teams from Super Rugby academies in Australia and New Zealand.

Teams from Japan, Argentina and Canada have also joined the tournament to compete with the three Pacific Island countries.

The itinerary included tour matches against Super Rugby academy opposition from Australia and New Zealand and included the following sides:[A][B] The tournament was split into three stages with the core Pacific Cup teams playing Super Rugby academies in the first two stages in Australia and New Zealand, respectively.

[2] In the third stage, the Pacific Cup teams played each other in a single round robin, home or away, to decide the title.

[C] No finals were played and the team finishing on top of the combined table after all stages was the tournament winner.

The Fiji Warriors won the next four tournaments at home before their dominance was broken by Junior Japan defeating them at Suva to take the 2020 Pacific Challenge title.

The core teams played against Super Rugby academy opposition from Australia and New Zealand before meeting each other in a single round robin to decide the title.