Sunday 24 July 2016 15:21, UK
Schalk Burger believes the Super Rugby format needs to change after the Stormers were humbled by the Chiefs at Newlands.
The Stormers, finalists in 2010, were thrashed 60-21 by the New Zealanders as they bowed out of the 2016 campaign.
The loss was the Cape Town side's first taste of Kiwi opposition, with the current format seeing the South African teams split into two conferences, one of which played Australian teams, the other fighting it out with New Zealand sides.
Springbok flanker Burger, who now heads to his new club Saracens, says the format has detracted from the competition as a whole.
"It would be nice to see the round-robin system back again," said Burger. "You want to see all the teams taking on each other and as a player you want to have that experience of pitting yourself up against all the best players and teams plus the travel experience.
"The conference system is far too complicated, there aren't many who even understand it."
Stormers coach Robbie Fleck was outspoken in the build-up to the quarter-final about his desire to face more New Zealand teams, and echoed those thoughts in the wake of the defeat.
"I said before the game that not having faced New Zealand opposition this year would play a part and it certainly was a big factor in our loss," Fleck said.
"We warned about the intensity and the tempo that they play at and they showed us that in the first half. When they got ahead of us, the writing was on the wall.
"You need to test yourself against these guys throughout the season and we didn't get a taste of it. Now we have and now we know what it is like and we have to up our game for next year.
"At the end of the day, they were way too good for us."
