Springboks to don nearly all-white jersey against Ireland

The Springboks will wear an all-white jersey with a hyper-jade collar in their third Rugby World Cup match against Ireland in Paris on Saturday. Kick-off is at 9pm.

The Boks’ first alternate jersey of hyper-jade and white has come under criticism from fans during the World Cup in France, with many supporters mocking the kit.

Plenty memes of the alternate kit have done the rounds on social media.

The Boks opened their World Cup campaign against Scotland in the hyper-jade and white kit, but were back to the green and gold jerseys for the match against Romania at the weekend. They will wear their second alternate kit against Ireland on Saturday.

Colour blind fans

SA Rugby on Monday explained the reasons for the changed kits, which must be adopted when there are colour clashes with the opposition and now, too, to fall in line with World Rugby’s drive to allow colour blind fans to distinguish more easily between the teams.

The second alternate (all white) will be worn against Ireland as the hyper-jade is too like Ireland’s green jersey, said SA Rugby on Monday.

The controversial hyper-jade and white jersey got the “seal of approval from a senior Springbok leadership group as well as SA Rugby management, continued the statement.

‘Seal of approval’

“The design of the hyper-jade jersey was influenced by Ndebele design traditions and its colour – in addition to traditional white – was inspired by the colours of the flora and landscape of South Africa.”

Should the Boks progress to the knockout stages of the World Cup, and if they are drawn as Team B against a team with a clashing colour they will wear the hyper-jade alternate as the first option.

A spokesperson at SA Rugby 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.”