Cape Town - Former England No 8 Nick Easter believes SA Rugby should leave SANZAAR and compete in Europe.

The 39-year-old, who is the current defence coach of English club Harlequins, is visiting the Sharks and Bulls franchises in South Africa to develop his skills as a coach.

He spoke at Loftus Versfeld earlier in the week when he said it would be a no-brainer for South African teams to start playing their rugby in the northern hemisphere.



Two South African sides - the Cheetahs and Southern Kings - joined Europe’s PRO14 last year, but recent reports have indicated that more could follow suit.



“I think it is the future. Some of the stuff I’ve learnt in the last 10 days is how brutal the travel schedule is on you guys,” Easter said (WATCH in the video clip below).

“You think it is an 11-hour flight over there and everything but until you see how much it takes out of a working week for South African sides, it makes much more sense financially and logistically for them to actually join a European competition and I definitely think it is the future. When it happens, I don’t know.”

Easter played 54 Tests for England between 2007 and 2015.