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New Zealand Super sides unveil their new threads for 2020
By Tom Vinicombe
The New Zealand Super Rugby franchises will take to the field in 2020 with entirely new kits, with all five sides having revealed their new home jerseys for the 2020 season over the weekend.
The Blues, Chiefs, Hurricanes, Crusaders and Highlanders have used the same home and away strips for the last two years but will release fresh designs just in time for Christmas.
The five home jerseys have all been specially crafted to tell a story relevant to each franchise's catchment area.
The Blues jersey, with a shattered imprint, has been designed to show the "seam of talent" that populates the region. Like the previous kit, the new shirt features a mix of dark and light blue shades - though it is certainly darker as a whole than its previous iteration.
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The Chiefs jersey, as has become tradition, features a range of Maori imagery and is inspired by the Maori Gods.
The Hurricanes have taken a more scientific approach to their kit, which displays the actual wind readings from Wellington from throughout the 2016 season - when the Hurricanes won the Super Rugby title.
Despite unveiling a new logo earlier this week, the Crusaders jersey will just feature the stylised Crusaders font in place of the new emblem. The pattern on the shirt itself symbolises the innovation that is currently occurring in Christchurch, which is still re-building from the 2011 earthquakes.
Finally, the Highlanders new kit is decorated with a houndstooth pattern but otherwise remains very visually similar to the previous jersey.
New away strips are also on the cards for all five sides, however these won't be unveiled until closer to the season's kick-off in late January.
Four of New Zealand's franchises will be in action over the opening round of the 2020 season, with the Blues hosting the Chiefs in the opening match of the tournament on Friday the 31st of January, the Crusaders hosting the Waratahs in Nelson a day later and the Hurricanes starting out in Cape Town against the Stormers.
Is it time for a radically different approach to Super Rugby? Former All Black Andrew Mehrtens think so:
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The Saracens players are the ones who brought this habit into the England team and to be fair they rarely lose, they have a very strong winning culture. It is however very embarrassing when you suck.
Go to commentsYes but it will be very hard game for the ABs, Ireland will want some pay back and they are a fine team who can play the running dynamic game like we do. It was 3 tries all in the QF with some great rugby by both sides. We will probably see a good game and as you say not much in it. I am less worried than normal as I feel like our team is changing for the future at the moment, with the new coach, so we will get better over time. There is a lot of new talent coming through.
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