diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/ansible-test-rstcheck-core-only.yml b/changelogs/fragments/ansible-test-rstcheck-core-only.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..e3a13aeae4a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/ansible-test-rstcheck-core-only.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+minor_changes:
+  - ansible-test - The ``rstcheck`` sanity test is no longer used for collections, but continues to be used for ansible-core.
diff --git a/test/lib/ansible_test/_data/requirements/sanity.rstcheck.txt b/test/lib/ansible_test/_data/requirements/sanity.rstcheck.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 3a5eeed1e43..00000000000
--- a/test/lib/ansible_test/_data/requirements/sanity.rstcheck.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-rstcheck
diff --git a/test/lib/ansible_test/_data/sanity/rstcheck/ignore-substitutions.txt b/test/lib/ansible_test/_data/sanity/rstcheck/ignore-substitutions.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 961e9bd9fd0..00000000000
--- a/test/lib/ansible_test/_data/sanity/rstcheck/ignore-substitutions.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
-version
-release
-today
-br
-_
diff --git a/test/lib/ansible_test/_internal/sanity/rstcheck.py b/test/lib/ansible_test/_internal/sanity/rstcheck.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 2d8a01d544c..00000000000
--- a/test/lib/ansible_test/_internal/sanity/rstcheck.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,95 +0,0 @@
-"""Sanity test using rstcheck."""
-from __future__ import (absolute_import, division, print_function)
-__metaclass__ = type
-
-import os
-
-from .. import types as t
-
-from ..sanity import (
-    SanitySingleVersion,
-    SanityMessage,
-    SanityFailure,
-    SanitySuccess,
-    SANITY_ROOT,
-)
-
-from ..target import (
-    TestTarget,
-)
-
-from ..util import (
-    SubprocessError,
-    parse_to_list_of_dict,
-    read_lines_without_comments,
-    find_python,
-)
-
-from ..util_common import (
-    run_command,
-)
-
-from ..config import (
-    SanityConfig,
-)
-
-
-class RstcheckTest(SanitySingleVersion):
-    """Sanity test using rstcheck."""
-    def filter_targets(self, targets):  # type: (t.List[TestTarget]) -> t.List[TestTarget]
-        """Return the given list of test targets, filtered to include only those relevant for the test."""
-        return [target for target in targets if os.path.splitext(target.path)[1] in ('.rst',)]
-
-    def test(self, args, targets, python_version):
-        """
-        :type args: SanityConfig
-        :type targets: SanityTargets
-        :type python_version: str
-        :rtype: TestResult
-        """
-        ignore_file = os.path.join(SANITY_ROOT, 'rstcheck', 'ignore-substitutions.txt')
-        ignore_substitutions = sorted(set(read_lines_without_comments(ignore_file, remove_blank_lines=True)))
-
-        settings = self.load_processor(args)
-
-        paths = [target.path for target in targets.include]
-
-        cmd = [
-            find_python(python_version),
-            '-m', 'rstcheck',
-            '--report', 'warning',
-            '--ignore-substitutions', ','.join(ignore_substitutions),
-        ] + paths
-
-        try:
-            stdout, stderr = run_command(args, cmd, capture=True)
-            status = 0
-        except SubprocessError as ex:
-            stdout = ex.stdout
-            stderr = ex.stderr
-            status = ex.status
-
-        if stdout:
-            raise SubprocessError(cmd=cmd, status=status, stderr=stderr, stdout=stdout)
-
-        if args.explain:
-            return SanitySuccess(self.name)
-
-        pattern = r'^(?P<path>[^:]*):(?P<line>[0-9]+): \((?P<level>INFO|WARNING|ERROR|SEVERE)/[0-4]\) (?P<message>.*)$'
-
-        results = parse_to_list_of_dict(pattern, stderr)
-
-        results = [SanityMessage(
-            message=r['message'],
-            path=r['path'],
-            line=int(r['line']),
-            column=0,
-            level=r['level'],
-        ) for r in results]
-
-        settings.process_errors(results, paths)
-
-        if results:
-            return SanityFailure(self.name, messages=results)
-
-        return SanitySuccess(self.name)
diff --git a/test/sanity/code-smell/rstcheck.json b/test/sanity/code-smell/rstcheck.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..870c19ffddd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/sanity/code-smell/rstcheck.json
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+{
+    "output": "path-line-column-message",
+    "extensions": [
+        ".rst"
+    ]
+}
diff --git a/test/sanity/code-smell/rstcheck.py b/test/sanity/code-smell/rstcheck.py
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..7866afa8913
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/sanity/code-smell/rstcheck.py
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+"""Sanity test using rstcheck and sphinx."""
+from __future__ import (absolute_import, division, print_function)
+__metaclass__ = type
+
+import re
+import subprocess
+import sys
+
+
+def main():
+    paths = sys.argv[1:] or sys.stdin.read().splitlines()
+
+    encoding = 'utf-8'
+
+    ignore_substitutions = (
+        'br',
+    )
+
+    cmd = [
+        sys.executable,
+        '-m', 'rstcheck',
+        '--report', 'warning',
+        '--ignore-substitutions', ','.join(ignore_substitutions),
+    ] + paths
+
+    process = subprocess.run(cmd,
+                             stdin=subprocess.DEVNULL,
+                             stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
+                             stderr=subprocess.PIPE,
+                             )
+
+    if process.stdout:
+        raise Exception(process.stdout)
+
+    pattern = re.compile(r'^(?P<path>[^:]*):(?P<line>[0-9]+): \((?P<level>INFO|WARNING|ERROR|SEVERE)/[0-4]\) (?P<message>.*)$')
+
+    results = parse_to_list_of_dict(pattern, process.stderr.decode(encoding))
+
+    for result in results:
+        print('%s:%s:%s: %s' % (result['path'], result['line'], 0, result['message']))
+
+
+def parse_to_list_of_dict(pattern, value):
+    matched = []
+    unmatched = []
+
+    for line in value.splitlines():
+        match = re.search(pattern, line)
+
+        if match:
+            matched.append(match.groupdict())
+        else:
+            unmatched.append(line)
+
+    if unmatched:
+        raise Exception('Pattern "%s" did not match values:\n%s' % (pattern, '\n'.join(unmatched)))
+
+    return matched
+
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    main()
diff --git a/test/sanity/code-smell/rstcheck.requirements.txt b/test/sanity/code-smell/rstcheck.requirements.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..4674b8dffe0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/sanity/code-smell/rstcheck.requirements.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+rstcheck
+sphinx  # required for full functionality