"The Jersey Issue"

[ndub]

this should be the shortest thread in the history of rugbyheads.

[M.R.B.M]

Sorry to spoil your plans ndub, but.....

Tests show grey shirts too similar to French

Black, blue, grey or white? The IRB are looking at the options.

The All Blacks ran into fresh controversy over the colour of their World Cup jersey with quarter-final rivals France arriving with a strip for Sunday's tie here which is deemed to be too similar to the New Zealanders.

Tests carried out today showed a great similarity between both All Blacks shirts, the traditional black and their second shirt of grey, and the navy blue jersey of France. France's second shirt is white.

A toss of the coin to solve the problem gave the French the right to choose their colours.

"We'll play in blue. They're the French colours. It's an honour to wear this jersey," a French team spokesman said.

It is the second time New Zealand have run into this problem after their match against Scotland at Murrayfield on September 24 when both teams wore strips which were incredibly alike leading to confusion among spectators.

All World Cup teams are obliged to have two different coloured strips.

It's the first time that a dilemma of this nature has surfaced between France and New Zealand, who traditionally wear navy blue and black respectively.

But the problem has arisen as a result of the French opting for a navy blue shirt which they have worn since their World Cup qualifying matches in August.

The World Cup organising committee have moved back by 24 hours the final decision on the shirts problem to 11pm tonight (NZ time)

[M.R.B.M]

France have backed down in the battle over playing strips ahead of tomorrow's rugby World Cup quarterfinal against New Zealand, saying they are prepared to wear a white strip if necessary.

The drawn out saga over who wears what in tomorrow's match at Millennium Stadium crystallised today when France told the International Rugby Board (IRB) they would compromise on their deep dark blue outfit as long as the All Blacks still wore their alternate grey strip.

The two most likely scenarios are that France will keep their blue jersey and wear white shorts and socks, or that they will wear an all-white outfit which was to be sent from Paris this morning (NZ time).

It could lead to the farcical sight of neither team wearing their first-choice strip - with a New Zealand team dressed in grey playing a French side in all white.

All Blacks coach Graham Henry again side-stepped the issue today, saying it was irrelevant to him and the players.

"As far as we know, we're going to be wearing silver," he said.

[ndub]

irb hogwash

how does the grey strip (ugly as it might be) blend in any way with the french dark blue?
political posturing and media boredom

[M.R.B.M]

I think its to do with the big black strips on the back and also with the back shorts/socks.

[megweya]

The joke doing the rounds here after the Scotland game was that you could tell who was who easily enough the Scots were the ones going backwards / conceding tries (and other variations on those themes)

I think the same rule of thumb will apply tonight when I'm watching in the Millennum Stadium - it will not be Twickenham 99.

Cheers
Megweya

Vamos Argentina!

[M.R.B.M]

And finally, after all that sh*t they made a decicion!

New Zealand will wear grey shirts with dark shorts and dark socks.

France will wear blue shirts with white shorts and white socks.