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The Springboks have released a statement explaining that they were required by World Rugby to wear their alternate jersey against Scotland partially under new colour blindness guidelines.
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There was some discord among fans around the ‘toothpaste’ green alternative kit worn against Scotland in the opening round, with many fans not keen on the new kit design.
The Boks – who were their standard green and gold in the win against Romania – have confirmed that the alternative kit will be worn once against Ireland on Saturday in their crunch Pool B clash.
A Springboks spokesperson said: “The Springboks are not permitted to wear the green and gold jersey in every Test match – as much as we would like to. The alternative jersey colour is white, but Nike proposed enhancing the plain look with a modern design drawing on various influences in a new combination to appeal to a new and wider audience. It was presented to senior Springboks, who gave it their seal of approval.”
They also pointed out that the ‘Springbok primary jersey of green and gold is always worn as the first choice whenever permitted.’
A bullet-pointed missive explained that: “On those occasions where a jersey clash must be avoided, the Springboks may be required to wear an alternate jersey.
“New colour blindness guidelines are in operation at the Rugby World Cup, which have increased the number of occasions on which one of the competing teams is required to wear an alternative jersey. South Africa was required to change for Scotland and will do so for the match against Ireland on 23 September.
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“South Africa’s first alternate is hyper-jade and white; the second alternate is white with a hyper-jade collar. Replicas of the primary (green) and alternate (hyper-jade) have been produced for sale. The second alternate (all white) will be worn against Ireland as the hyper-jade is too like Ireland’s green jersey. Should the Springboks progress to the knockout stages of the competition, and if they are drawn as Team B against a team with a clashing colour the team will wear the hyper-jade alternate as the first option. Jerseys are designed by sports team apparel manufacturers and ultimately approved by the relevant federation.”
The jerseys were also given the green light by senior members of the Springboks team.
I see from the web (Irish Examiner in this case) that: "The Springboks have confirmed that they will wear a third-choice, all-white kit against Ireland for the Pool B encounter at Stade de France this Saturday." Then I read on News24 they'll have Checkers shorts. Ireland are in their normal strip but I see they had to change against Tonga so that's OK.
Frankly, World Rugby have once again made a total and utter stuff up. Thanks Bill Beaumont who is colour blind, and probably still hates the Boks after his Lions team got thrashed by them in 1980 (like most poms do) for this.
Well done Nike. You've created the most un-Springbok-like top imaginable. I even don't mind the pattern that much, but stick to the green & gold that is instantly recognisable to any rugby fan on the planet - seriously, wtf is that other nonsense?
(Don't mention Nike's preferred distributors in SA for the replica tops (large corporate ones), effectively seeing off small and indy outlets. Strong move Nike, strong move.
Well who believes all this nonsense, we have a alternative white jersey. They are just trying to get rid of anything with the Springbok on it, especially the standout it had with the green and gold. Surprised that Nike designed a Checkers promoting kit.
Absolutely laughable!
"They've" completely wreaked South Africa ...... so why not also something that that holds the nation
together!
We are the marionettes, they say jump and we ask how high Master, they wanna dictate everything, we are the World Champs, should we not have the fisrt and last say in this? 🤔
Someone at SARU and definitely at Nike needs to be fired over this. The "hyper jade" (not a real colour, it's turquoise) has nothing to do with the Springbok brand. They tried some lame excuse that it's based on that colour in the SA landscape, which is such a monumentally stupid thing to say that the only thing worse is how stupid SARU were to swallow it. You can literally find EVERY COLOUR in the SA landscape...the jersey might as well be red then because we have red flowers. It's so so dumb. The public clearly hate it, it without a doubt puts us at a psychological disadvantage - Nike executives/creatives are clearly not rugby fans. We understand that we can't always wear the green and gold...but then make the alternative kit white and SPRINGBOK GREEN...not this stupid turquoise colour. If the designers were rugby fans they would know that, they would understand the importance of it. Shame on Nike and shame on SARU for alllowing this. The entire SA rugby publci hates SARU, Rassie and his team of succeeded in spite of them, not because of them, and here is another example of their absolute ineptitude.
This kit is an abomination to SA Rugby and the Springboks legacy.
Does SA Rugby not recognise comments by their worldwide fan-base.!??
Wear PLAIN WHITE jerseys, dark green shorts and white socks, for goodness sakes.!!
Total marketing spin! Coincidence that the colour is Checkers 60/60? Was this the condition of the sponsorship? SA rugby fans are not stupid. 😠
How hard would it have been to have one side wear their colors, and the other wear white with their usual colors as trim?
Why us it only south Africa that has to change kit. That's quite biased, rules for some and not others. Why doesn't Ireland wear alternative kit this time?
Did you not read the article? It's a coin flip.
Ahem...England have had to wear their blues twice in the world cup.
You HAVE to be kidding with this, right?
My father is colourblind and he did not find any problem watching the Boks play in Green and Gold. Think the new jersey is an insult to South Africans.
It's not about green and gold, it's about us in green and another team in a similar colour...like Ireland for example. The problem isn't that we have to play in an alternate kit, that's fairly normal, the problem is they changed our colour completely for that alternate kit, it should just be white with springbok green trim, like always, not this stupid checkers colour.
It's disgraceful that the defending champions have bent over backwards to wear an alternative jersey at the Rugby World Cup. How come Ireland, France, New Zealand or Scotland are not made to wear an alternative Jersey when playing the Springboks?
After the RWC is over there needs to be a full investigation into this disgraceful kit that smells of a grubby backroom deal.
Is this to do with their new sponsorship.. colgate toothpaste?. Minty fresh
Not sure if it's lime milkshake or baby vomit or vomit of baby that's just had lime milkshake
Sounds like a vegan socialist gender neutral ponytail wrote that sh!t explanation.
I think they also discriminate against the blind and should start wearing bells. Different sounding bells for each team and player, biggest bells for the props or locks. And of course a bell in the ball. Oh, and the bells should be hyper-jade.
🤣 🤣
What was wrong with our normal away kit which is ehite jerseys with green collars?
Hyperjade wtf
Nike messed up there big time, now they even trying to blame the color blind. Im sure the color blind hate that jersey aswell. Probably will go down as one of the ugliest kits ever.
This jersey is absolutely dreadful.
An insult to a great team and their supporters.
Woke trash. They just want to destroy the Springbok heritage. Ugly and terrible … such a shame.
I don't even understand what this article is about
Why is the jersey controversial?
Because its plain shite!
It's all just one big PR exercise. World Rugby virtue signalling hard.
This is pure rubbish, why was the green and gold acceptable with the previous World Cup, and it is the custom with the World Championship? Who is World Rugby??????????