A Uni Watch Look at the Rugby World Cup

[Editor’s Note: Paul is off on a short vacation, returning on Wednesday. Today we have a guest entry by Josh Gardner, editor of the site Rugby Shirt Watch, who’s going to fill us in on the Rugby World Cup, which gets underway today.]

By Josh Gardner

Like soccer, the 15-man code of rugby football (not to be confused with 13-man rugby league) has its global showpiece tournament every four years, and the 2015 version kicks off in England today. Just as with the FIFA World Cup, all 20 teams involved will be sporting new home and alternate uniforms, which range from the clean and classy to the downright obscene.

Rugby union was an amateur sport until 1995. In the 20 years since, professional rugby shirts have changed a lot from the baggy, cotton, long-sleeved, polo-collared style that most people would associate with the sport. Modern rugby shirts are made of cutting-edge fabrics, are skin-tight, and usually don’t have much of a collar, to reduce the chance of being tackled by an opposition player. That said, most fans and many players still prefer the old-school look, not least those who carry a little more timber around the midriff, so many modern shirts aim to strike a balance between classic and modern designs.

In keeping with tournament rules, each World Cup team will have a tournament patch on the right breast, a team badge on the left, and a kit supplier badge in the middle. Teams who’ve won the tournament in the past have a patch on the right sleeve, while any other team logos (such as South Africa’s Springbok) have to go on the left sleeve. The 20 teams are divided into four five-team pools, so let’s check them out, one pool at a time (click on the shirt color links to check out each design in detail):

Pool A

England
Shirt colors: White (home) and red (alternate)

Kit supplier: Canterbury of New Zealand

Notes: The tournament hosts kept things clean and classic for their jerseys, with the only real ornamentation being the chevron grip surface (a sticky, tacky substance designed to make catching the ball in wet conditions easier). The big talking point however, was the famous red rose, which has been 3D injection-molded — a world first, according to Canterbury.

Australia
Shirt colors: Green/gold (home) and white/green (alternate)

Kit supplier: ASICS

Notes: The Wallabies’ home shirt went down like a fart in a lift upon its reveal, mainly due to the green “shoulder pad.” It’s perhaps not the best look but definitely looks less incongruous on the white change strip.

Wales
Shirt colors: Red (home) and “anthracite” (alternate)

Kit supplier: Under Armour

Notes: Rugby fans are nothing if not traditional, and Under Armour’s inclusuion of gold and “oxblood” in the Wales jersey — two colors with no association to this rugby-obsessed country — invited some unkind comparisons from fans. It’s pretty nice, though, like a ’70s soccer shirt. The change shirt’s tone of “anthracite” is somewhere between grey and blue.

Fiji
Shirt colors: White (home) and black (alternate)

Kit supplier: BLK

Notes: These initially seems like two pretty plain shirts, but they actually have some nice touches to honor Fijian culture. Down the ribs you’ll find a traditional “tapa” motif, and sublimated into the chest is a representation of the “civavonovono” — a traditional Fijian breastplate worn by tribal leaders. Cool.

Uruguay
Shirt colors: Blue (home) and TBC (alternate)

Kit supplier: Kooga

Notes: As one of the minnows of the tournament, Uruguay has been given a pretty dull and tacky shirt. With a mix of pinstripes, slashes, and a weird upturned collar, it’s hardly one for the ages.

Pool B

South Africa
Shirt colors: Green/gold (home) and white/green (alternate)

Kit supplier: ASICS

Notes: The Springbok jersey has always been green with gold trim, but it’s rarely had quite this much gold in it. The sleeve pattern is sort of half a Northwestern stripe but has also drawn more than a few Green Bay Packers comparisons. What’s Afrikaans for “Cheesehead”?

Samoa
Shirt colors: Blue (home) and white (alternate)

Kit supplier: ASICS

Notes: If there’s one shirt that’s really got people talking in this tournament, it’s Samoa’s. Covered in an intricate, sublimated pattern inspired by traditional Samoan art, the home and change shirts do a really nice job of emphasizing different aspects of this hugely detailed design.

Scotland
Shirt colors: Blue (home) and white (alternate)

Kit supplier: Macron

Notes: The Scotland shirts are a wonderful throwback to the good ol’ days — a clean, classic-style shirt with the all-important fold-down collar. The only bit of ornamentation is about as Scottish as it comes, with the SRU’s own tartan adorning the sleeve cuffs and ribcage.

USA
Shirt colors: Blue (home) and white/blue/red (alternate)

Kit supplier: BLK

Notes: The Eagles have been channeling their inner dream team, clearly, as this both of these shirts lay on the stars and stripes pretty heavily. The home shirt is all classy pinstripes and subtle stars, which looks great, while the alt mixes wild and restrained with some subtle decreasing hoops contrasting a proper galaxy of stars around the shoulders. ’Murica.

Japan
Shirt colors: Red/white (home) and dark/light blue (alternate)

Kit supplier: Canterbury of New Zealand

Notes: Hooped jerseys are a big part of the heritage of rugby union, and many modern apparel suppliers look to put a modern twist on it. Canterbury has opted for a curved effect on the Brave Blossoms’ shirts, and it works really well, especially on the alternate.

Pool C

New Zealand

Shirt colors: Black (home) and white (alternate)

Kit supplier: Adidas

Notes: The reigning world champions are the favorites again this time around, and they have one of the most iconic jerseys in sport. This year’s edition is slightly different from the norm, however, due to the chevron around the shoulders, which is a nod to the jersey of the original 1905 touring team that first bore the name All Blacks.

Argentina
Shirt colors: Blue/white (home) and blue (alternate)

Kit supplier: Nike

Notes: The Pumas’ blue/white hooped shirt is a classic, and it’s no surprise Nike’s very traditional take has been well received, but the real pick might be the dark blue change shirt, with its eye-grabbing neon blue accents and subtle puma-print pattern around the waist.

Tonga
Shirt colors: Red (home) and white (alternate)

Kit supplier: Kukri

Notes: Another Pacific island nation, and another tasteful incorporation of traditional tribal art into the design. The band over the single shoulder is an interesting look, however, and it’s balanced out by the presence of the Royal Crown of Tonga on the left ”“- subtle but effective.

Georgia
Shirt colors: Black/red (home) and red/white (alternate)

Kit supplier: Under Armour

Notes: The best of Europe’s second-tier competition for some time now, the Georgians have to make do with a kit template that’s, generously, two years old. There’s an argument that the colored “T” on the front makes it look like a bikini top, too.

Namibia
Shirt colors: Blue (home) and red (alternate)

Kit supplier: Canterbury of New Zealand

Notes: The Namibians are one of the most unsuccessful teams in the tournament’s history (their best result is a 15-point defeat), and their shirt is a bit of a hodge-podge. That said, the pinstriping on the jersey front is quite nice, even if the side vents are pretty ugly.

Pool D

Ireland
Shirt colors: Green (home) and black/green (alternate)

Kit supplier: Canterbury of New Zealand

Notes: The Irish are one of the tournament favorites, and their shirt is a very clean and classy number. Similar to the All Blacks, we get a retro chevron design around the shoulders, and another 3D injection-molded badge. The black and green change shirt is truly ugly, however.

France
Shirt colors: Blue (home) and red (alternate)

Kit supplier: Adidas

Notes: Les Bleus took the interesting step of bringing out a new shirt for the World Cup that, er, wasn’t really new. Both home and change are identical to those worn in the Six Nations, with one difference -”“ a motif around the famous Cockerel badge by famous French rugby captain turned renowned sculptor and artist Jean-Pierre Rives.

Italy
Shirt colors: Blue (home) and white (alternate)

Kit supplier: Adidas

Notes: Compared to their Six Nations shirt, this Italy shirt is a little dull, with the only real point of interest being the bafflingly nautical blue and white striped collar. The alternate shirt is a thing of understated beauty, however.

Canada
Shirt colors: Red (home) and white (alternate)

Kit supplier: Under Armour

Notes: Unlike Georgia, Canada is using Under Armour’s current rugby template. As with Wales, it’s made for two very retro-looking jerseys. By taking away the Wales design’s bands around the shoulders, however, it makes for a pretty plain, pretty dull design overall.

Romania
Shirt colors: Yellow (home) and white (away)

Notes: The funky patterns on the front of the Romanian jerseys are apparently taken from the country’s traditional rugs. The home shirt is odd but unique, while the away design is lovely but er, well”¦ there’s no getting around it: It’s a touch phallic.

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So there we have it: 20 teams, 40 shirts, some absolute stunners, and some you’d probably rather forget.

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Pelicans Unveil New “Pride” Unis

Yesterday, to no one’s surprise (and as Paul alluded to), the New Orleans Pelicans unveiled their new “Pride” uniforms (which had been leaked a while back, along with just about every other new NBA uniform for 2015-16). These mark the return of the “Mardi Gras” look, which harkback to the uniforms the team most recently wore when the team was still called Hornets. If you remember those uniforms, however, they were purple in front and green on back, with a gold side panel separating the two.

Here’s a video of the unveiling, before we take a look at the details:

The unis were shown off at Mardi Gras World in New Orleans, LA, and featured Pelicans Anthony Davis, Jrue Holiday, Ryan Anderson and Quincy Pondexter. Unfortunately, there weren’t any “glamour” shots available, so we’ll have to make due with a couple photos and a few closeups the team tweeted.

As you can see, these uniforms are mostly purple (no green backs this time around), and have (ugh) sleeves. There is still green on the uniform, along with gold, as seen on the stripes separating the body of the jersey from the sleeves. There are also gold/green/gold stripes down the shorts (you can click the photos below to slightly enlarge):

According to the Pelicans’ press release:

The uniforms, which can be worn six times throughout the season, will be featured throughout Mardi Gras season including three home games: Saturday, Jan. 30 vs. Brooklyn, Monday, Feb. 1 vs. Memphis and Thursday, Feb. 4 vs. the Los Angeles Lakers on TNT. The match-up with the Lakers will be the Pelicans’ signature Mardi Gras-themed game. The other three games in which the Pelicans will wear the “Pride” uniforms will be on the road: Wednesday, Feb. 3 at San Antonio, Saturday, Feb. 6 at Cleveland and Monday, Feb. 8 at Minnesota.

In addition:

The uniforms were introduced as part of the NBA’s “Pride” uniforms for the 2015-16 season. The short-sleeved uniforms feature Mardi Gras’ signature colors ”“ purple, green and gold. The tops are purple with green accents on the sleeves and sport ”˜NOLA’ across the chest in the Pelicans’ signature font in gold letters trimmed in green. The Pelicans ”˜NO’ logo is featured at the bottom of the v-neck and the Crescent City Basketball logo is on the left sleeve in Mardi Gras colors. Additionally, the trim around the neckline is purple, green and gold-striped.

On the back of the jersey, the players’ numbers will be gold with green trim, last name in white traditional lettering and the NBA logo will be featured at the base of the neck. The purple shorts will have green and gold stripes down the side with a small secondary logo ”“ the ”˜bird-de-lis’ in gold centered on the waistband. The Pelicans’ partial logo is on both sides of the shorts in Mardi Gras colors.

Here’s a closeup of the “Crescent City” patch, which appears on the left sleeve of the uniforms:

On the front of the jerseys, above the “NOLA” is a kind of cool logo, sort of a combination ships wheel/compass:

And here’s a look at the backs of the uniforms:

One interesting tidbit in the press release was this:

The unveiling of the uniforms follows the NBA’s progression for teams that introduce a new identity. The first season, home and road uniforms are released, followed by an alternate uniform. The third year, teams can add a “Pride” uniform with required sleeves. The “Pride” uniforms utilize indigenous design elements or phrases or colors that are linked to the team’s local culture in a manner that enhances and extends the team’s identity.

While this has been the Pelicans party line all along (first year, home/road, second year alt, third year more) — it seems teams who change their identity don’t include teams who merely introduce new uniforms — as they seem to be able to add three or four new sets at the outset. And don’t the Hornets (nee Bobcats) count as a “new identity” as well? But they introduced three unis that first year after “rebranding”. I think the Nets, when they moved from Jersey to Brooklyn may have followed this protocol, but that may have been because they really wanted to move that black jersey. I’m just not getting what constitutes a “new identity” — is it merely new uniforms, is it a move to another city, is it a name change/rebrand?

Also, note that in the third year, teams can add a “Pride” uniform with required sleeves. What? This is the first I’m hearing of this requirement. All of this seems a bit strange, and doesn’t seem to apply to any other teams in the league. Did I miss some memo or are the Pelicans operating under a different set of uni restrictions (not that that’s a bad thing) other teams are not? I don’t follow the NBA all that closely, so I may be wrong in my (mis)understanding, but this seems to be an odd set of rules they’re following.

As far as the uniform goes? I like it about as much as one can like an alternate — the colorscheme has been done (by the New Orleans Hornets, which is the same franchise as the Pelicans) before, albeit without sleeves and with green backs. So it’s not entirely “new.” And it’s kind of fun — since they’ll only be wearing it six times, it won’t be overdone. Of course, I detest the “required” sleeves, but other than that it’s pretty solid.

What do you guys think? Let’s hear your thoughts in the comments below.

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Uni Watch News Ticker:

Baseball News: Whoa — check out this photo of Ty Cobb batting and wearing sunglasses (from Jonathan Daniel. The link from which that photo came explains had undergone a surgical procedure on his eyes to remove a small growth from his left optic nerve and wore dark, smoked sun-glasses to prevent irritation to his eyes. … Here’s an interesting article about the Classic Wrigley Field Scoreboard (nice find by Tom Hamann).

NFL/Football News: In this photo of Dan Dierdorf, Gene Sanny thinks he “must have broke his jaw or something. I love these old giant masks they used for injuries.” … The Chiefs added the LH patch in the endzones prior to last evening’s game (h/t Mike Vamosi). … Looks like a Saskatchewan helmet with a shit-ton of stickers will be revealed today (from Shelby Coker). … Most of those “NFL Teams Reimagined As (fill in the blank)” are pretty lame. Not so with this one, which reimagines NFL teams as record sleeves! (from Tim Broun). … Sports Illustrated used an old Browns helmet in this week’s issue (good spot by Douglas Ford). … “This year’s Madden installment took the liberty of adding (a) Nikelace to the Raiders’ new Elite 51 jerseys. Oops!” says Trey. “A little hard to see in the screen grab but it’s crystal clear and shiny in the gameplay.” … I wasn’t watching the Chiefs/Broncos game at the time, but Von Miller’s nose bumper was coming off his helmet last evening (screen grab by Chris Perrenot). Here’s another angle (from Ryan Perkins). Speaking of the Chiefs, they decided to go full bloodclot last night. Disappointingly, they chose to go with red undersocks, which doesn’t look so bad with high white socks, but looks worse with low whites. More photos here. The blood clot looked much better when the Chiefs wore the white socks that were designed to go with the red pants. I know it was announced that teams would be strongly encouraged to go “color vs. color” on Thursday Night games, but unless the Broncos were to wear their alternate blue tops, a red-versus-orange game would have been unwatchable (and I’m pretty sure the Broncos have already designated their two alt-top games for Denver). … “If you pause this video around 35 seconds, you can see that Gronk’s dad is wearing one of those bootleg jerseys that you see all over the internet,” notes Scott Davis. “The numbers on the front are puffy, as is the stitching on the twill, and the NFL shield on the neck is higher than the authentics. Also, later in the video, the star on the Flying Elvis hat is much smaller than the real ones — It looks like even Mr. Gronkowski can’t justify paying $300 for a polyester shirt!”

College Football News: New helmet for Texas Tech? Joey Potts was watching a video of Kliff Kingsbury and this helmet on his desk caught his eye. Chrome six shooter decal with smoke effects on helmet. “This is the best screenshot I could get,” he adds. … This guy has some divided loyalties: “Sorry for the photo quality, but I shot this with my phone through my windshield at dusk,” writes Andrew Hoenig. “That is a Virginia license plate with a U-Maryland frame, but a Miami Dolphins helmet sticker over the original plate graphic.” … Here’s the North Carolina Tar Heels uniform combination for their upcoming game (h/t James Gilbert). Also from James, here is a local columnist’s take on Carolina’s new uniforms. … The Arizona State University Sun Devils will be having a white-out tonight against New Mexico (from Joey Artigue). … For data nerds, check this out. Submitter Susan Freeman, adds, “Oh. My. God. No need to crunch the numbers on your own! Just look at this!” … An adidas exec claims Louisville’s new black unis “really pop”. Oh, really? … Virginia is going to be wearing beautiful throwbacks for their game this weekend (h/t Fins Phanatic). … Here is a close up of the patch DeShaun Watson wore last evening vs. Looeyville (via Emblem Source). … The Illinois Illini will wear orange/white/orange Saturday against North Carolina (from Illini Football). … Fordham is readying their flag desecration unis for their Liberty Cup game against Columbia on Saturday (from Matthew Solly).

NBA/College/Basketball News: Here’s a look at the new red Bradley Basketball uniforms (from Andrew Carver). .. Take a gander at this beautiful Boston Celtics program long playing record (from Jesse Scardina). Jesse notes, “Found this gem ”” never recall seeing the basketball with a clover logo on it.” That’s a new one on me too. Anyone know if that was ever an official logo?

Hockey News: Goalie Carey Price has new pads. Mike Engle adds they’re still CCM E Flex Pro 2, just a different way of coloring in the template this time. … Michigan State University’s Munn Ice Arena is going with green blue lines (thanks to Eric Romain). … New gray uniforms for THE Ohio State University hockey team (from Patrick Thomas). … Check out this new mask for Robin Lehner of the Buffalo Sabres inspired by the band IN FLAMES (from Scott Turney). If you want to know more, click here. … Here’s an “on ice” look at the new Coyotes unis (which were unveiled this past June — from Yardbarker). … Cam Neely dropped a hint tonight as to what the Bruins’ Winter Classic jerseys will look like (from Will Lombard).

Soccer News: “You might be interested in this article about how a BFBS fourth jersey from the Italian club Lazio is a bit problematic,” notes Matthew Rogier, “given some of its supporters fascist tendencies and the history of ‘Blackshirts’.” … Here’s a look at the new, radical third kits across Europe’s top teams. … Retro Jamaica jerseys have been released, and according to the author of this article, they’re “almost too beautiful to look at”. They are pretty freakin’ nice tho. … Looks like UCF soccer is wearing fauxbacks today (via Eric DeSalvo). … The National Women’s Soccer League revealed their logo for their championship game (from Saurel Jean).

Grab Bag: If you want another view of the Rugby Union World Cup jerseys, you can click here. Says submitter Caleb Borchers, “saw this article, find the analysis pretty off to my tastes, but fascinated a Uni Watch type piece is popping up internationally.” Also from Caleb, “So the advertising tail is wagging the dog at this Rugby World Cup. The All Blacks will be changing on the bus due to sponsorship rules.” … During a 2014 women’s rugby union match between England and Scotland, several of the Scottish forwards wore blue and white thigh strapping (from Grayham Clayton). … “Knowing of your keen curling interest, this is priceless,” says Terry Haines. “Feherty and curling. A match made in heaven, or at least 30 Rock.” … Hugh McBride asks, is this the First (ever) public appearance of throwback unis? HAH! … Interesting article asks “When did logos get so friendly?” (thanks, Brinke). … Ed(die Atari) Westfield thinks this is a Nice Bernie Sanders t-shirt.

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And that’s all for today — thanks to Josh for the lede (and Paul for prepping it) and all who sent in for the ticker. I’ll be back tomorrow for a normal Saturday posting (and SMUW on Sunday), filling in for Paul on Monday & Tuesday, and Paul will return on Wednesday and we’ll be back to our “normal” Uni Watch schedule after that. Everyone have a great Friday and I’ll catch you guys tomorrow.

Follow me on Twitter @PhilHecken.

Peace.

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“Speaking as a native Long Islander and life-long Islanders fan, all I can say is that these black alts are better than the previous black alts. Damning with faint praise? You bet!”

— Andy in Chicago

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