The competition, sometimes referred to as the Four Nations Championship, had previously been sponsored by Cheltenham Regency and Parkhouse Recruitment and Skanska.
In 2014 the tournament was renamed the Celtic Nations Cup following England's withdrawal Friendly matches between A sides were played between 1998 and 2001 with Scotland facing Wales twice and Ireland three times and Wales taking on England once.
The success of these one-off friendly internationals saw the advent of the first Home Nations Championship in 2002.
Until the final match between Wales and England at Cheltenham, the tournament was low-key and had little publicity.
It took the introduction of the Crusaders to weaken the Wales side and allow England to win the title for the first time in 2006.