The Rugby World Cup kits this year are finally being trickled out. With a little over a week left for the tournament to begin, we’ve got all the new uniforms in one place for you to admire.
Held every four years, and this year in Japan, from September 20 – November 2, the Rugby World Cup is a sporting event between 20 of the greatest teams in the sport.
Every time a big rugby event comes round, teams tend to unveil their unique jerseys that represent their team and country. All teams have both a home uniform and an away uniform.
Here’s a look at all the kits shown off so far:
Argentina
Home
Away
Why we love it: The home kit for Argentina this year is one of the effortlessly-eye catching kits of them all. It sticks faithfully to the colours of the Argentina flag, and puts the flags horizontal where its football tops go vertical. The stripes aren’t as thick as previous years, given us more of the colourful pattern to admire. The away kit goes for vertical and a nice ombre stripe down the middle, adding some subtlety to the design of the shirt.
Australia
Home
Away
Why we love it:
Canada
Home
Away
Why we hate it:
While the home and away jersey are both in solid colours, they’re just boring to look at. The red and black jersies are nothing to look at but the little embossed maple leaves on the jersey are a nice touch.
England
Home
Away
Why we dont love it but we don’t hate it either:
Fiji
Home
Away
Why we love it: We didn’t know we had a thing for Fijian art until we saw Fiji’s kit for the Japan Rugby World Cup this year. The kits have the indigenous art style on the sides, shoulders, and collars of the tops, providing an extra level of detail to the shirts over other countries in the event. We also love how the home and away kits are essentially opposites of one another with inverted colours, simple yet striking.
France
Home
Away
Why we hate it:
The minimalist movement may have started in the 1960s in New York, but it’s been embraced by the French squad this year. When does minimalist become boring? The jury’s still out on that, but this kit certainly walks the line.
Georgia
Home
Away
Official imagery TBC
Why we hate it:
Let’s file this in another really plain and doesn’t say anything at all category.
Ireland
Home
Away
We we love it:
No surprises that Ireland stuck with a shamrock green for its home kit, but it’s the away jerseys that most impress. What is that hue, sage? Teal? Kelly green? We’re not too sure, but we dig it.
Italy
Home
Away
Why we love it:
Nobody does patriotism better than the Italians. The new kit has been inspired by Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci and uses his quote, ‘Details make perfection, and perfection is not a detail.’ The Azzurri have tough competition from the rest of the teams this year and considering their first match is against reigning world champions Wales, if they were hoping to increase their star power on field their new kits have done just that. The away kits’ blue and white striped details adds a nice touch to the predominently white jersey.
Japan
Home
Away
Why we love it: Clearly we have a soft spot for heavy-prints style kits, and the host’s uniform is hard not to talk about. Its away kit in particular has a lot going for it. The jersey sports an intricate ‘Kiyoshi’ patterns that are designed to bring good luck, and represent ‘force, peace and auspiciousness’. The shape of the stripes is also said to be inspired by Samurai helmets, these kits use all the modern fabrics of today’s sports, while enfusing culture and heritage. And the home jersey looks liek an Iron Man costume so that’s deifnitely a plus.
Namibia
Home
Official imagery TBC
Away
Official imagery TBC
New Zealand
Home
Away
Why we love it: There’s something about things in all-black that make them extra cool and the New Zealand home kit is no exception. It’s no surprise of course, the New Zealand rugby team is called the ‘All Blacks’, though this year’s kit adds something extra. With a subtle embossed fern motif, the uniforms quite literally add another dimension with their slight 3D look.
Russia
Home / Away
Why don’t love it but we don’t hate it either:
Russia can be forgiven for this jersey as it’s just their second appearance at the Rugby World Cup. It’s the same blue and red colours we’ve seen in many of the teams with an interesting cross chest panel. But we can’t help be left with the thought that this could have been a lot better.
Samoa
Home
Away
Why we love it: Our pick for favourite colour on a jersey has to go to Samoa’s home kit in a deep emerald blue. Blue is a common colour in the sport as you may notice from this list, but Samoa’s take on the colour is striking and beautiful. The kit also features Samoan art, with the official imagery showing it blend into traditional Samoan tattoes.
Scotland
Home
Away
Why we hate it:
While the tartan shoulder panneling and little colour detail is a nice touch, the colours all just clash with another and the final product is just not eye-catching enough.
South Africa
Home
Away
We we hate it:
South Africa’s kit is it is the plainest of the kits and doesn’t seem to make a statement at all about the country or the team.
Tonga
Home
Why we hate it:
The Tonga jersey has absolutely nothing special about it. Let’s just file this into the plain and boring category.
Uruguay
Home/Away
Why we don’t love it but don’t hate it either:
The Los Teros have stuck with their traditional pale blue and white jerseys. The Sun of May detailing on both is a nice touch but other than that it’s pretty run of the mill. Nothing to write home about.
U.S.A.
Home
Away
Why we love it:
This might just be the best kit so far. The stars shoulder detail on the home and away jersey along with the simple colour block usage of blue and white coupled with minimal red detailing make this one of the stand out kits of 2019. The team will definitely be proud to wear this one.
Wales
Home
Away
Why we love it: The number one ranked rugby team in the Cup, and fittingly they have one of the best uniforms this year too. The Welsh kit doesn’t bother with complex patterns or 3D detailing, it sticks true to the uniform use of a few bold and masculine colours. The little details around the sleeves and the deep cut v neck also add seriously manly vibes to this imposing set of shirts.
