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Cape Town - Former Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer believes that SANZAAR's decision to axe two South African sides from Super Rugby 2018 will be unfair on whichever franchises are chopped.
The decision comes after the current 18-team, four-conference tournament was deemed an unsuccessful format.
Australia will also lose one franchise as the tournament returns to a 15-team, three-conference structure.
Meyer could not argue with the decision, but he did say that it would be harsh on whichever two South African franchises were cut.
SA Rugby and the franchise heads are currently in negotiations, but at this stage it appears likely that the Kings and Cheetahs will lose their Super Rugby status in 2018.
"I don't want to say if it's a good or bad decision, but we can't go on with the current state of Super Rugby. I was against it from the start because you can't have one year where you play the New Zealand sides and one when you don't," Meyer told All Out Rugby in a telephonic interview.
"This is a very difficult decision. You have to take everything into consideration. There is always going to be emotion ... it doesn't matter what you do. In a sense it's going to be unfair to whoever is cut.
"It doesn't matter what you do, it's going to be unfair to someone. For me, it's more a question of what you do afterwards."
The big challenge there, Meyer said, was ensuring that South Africa does not lose even more players abroad because spaces in Super Rugby will be limited.
"I'm more worried about, once we decide which four they're going to be, what we do from there," he said.
"If we don't keep those players in South Africa and we don't add them to the depth of the four franchises then they're going to go overseas and we're going to be in the exact same position as now.
"We have to work together and get the bets coaches and best players to stay in South Africa."
