Sam Warburton has called the Rainbow Cup a "mishmash competition", adding that PRO14 bosses are "almost shamelessly going wherever the money is".
The proposed tournament that would have seen four South African sides link up with the 12 PRO14 clubs has been rife with logistical issues, with the latest development being that the South African clubs will now play in a separate tournament running parallel to the northern hemisphere edition.
All of this has played out mere days before the Rainbow Cup is due to kick-off.
Former Cardiff Blues flanker Warburton has been less than impressed with how things have panned out.
"To be honest my brother is a physio at Cardiff Blues and he said we are glad he was not going over, he didn't want to," he explained.
"I am not going to lie and I could not say this as a player but I think the whole Rainbow Cup has turned into a mishmash competition. I think you need to keep your domestic leagues.
"Ideally I would have it as just a Celtic league and the Italian sides going into the French league. It would be much better for them logistically and I think they would agree with that as well and keep it to how it used to be."
The former Wales captain added that joining forces with the English clubs would be the best result, but admitted that it's unlikely to happen.
However, he didn't feel the league would improve by "changing every year" and going where the money is, rather than the best product.
"The ideal situation would be a British and Irish League but the brutal fact is England don't need the Celtic teams," he said.
"The PRO14 is changing every year and almost shamelessly going wherever the money is at and not where the best quality of product is going to be. I don't think it makes much difference to me. Personally I would rather watch Irish teams play each other, Welsh teams play each other, etc and I feel they would be better games to be honest."
Sam Warburton was speaking as Canterbury launched the British & Irish Lions Test Jersey. Get yours from www.canterbury.com
