France are set to wear a special edition pale blue shirt in their Six Nations game against England in Paris. The match marks 120 years of rivalry between the two nations.
Kit Clash Concerns
Given that England play in white, the change of kit for France has raised concerns about a potential kit clash. Reports suggest England are aware of the possible kit clash and will stick to wearing their traditional white shirt.
France usually play in darker blue so wore their white away shirt in the 50-40 defeat in Edinburgh against Scotland last weekend.
The Six Nations no longer allows red and green shirts in the Wales v Ireland fixture because of the difficulty spectators who are colour blind would have telling the teams apart. Wales wore a white shirt last weekend in Dublin, so that it looked light compared to the dark shirt of Ireland’s green.
Honouring History
The French federation released a statement explaining the design. According to the statement, “Drawing directly from the history of the rivalry, the design of the match jersey – and its replica version – references the original light blue jersey worn by the French team in 1906 for their first fixture against England.”
The statement continued, “The 1927 FFR logo adorned on the collection denotes the year of the French team’s first victory against England, while the ‘Tricolore’ stripes are a nod to the French rugby kits of the late 80s and 90s, when adidas was the kit supplier of the federation.”
Six Nations Title Implications
A bonus-point win against Steve Borthwick’s side will secure Les Bleus a record eighth Six Nations crown.
England defeated France in last year’s Six Nations.
Permutations are in place as France, Scotland and Ireland chase the title.