Since being formed as a merger of two Bordeaux clubs, Stade Bordelais and Club Athlétique Bordeaux-Bègles Girond, in 2006, Union Bordeaux Bègles has been a club on a gradual rise. After six seasons in Rugby Pro D2, the club won promotion in 2011, and have flirted with both the playoffs and relegation in the three seasons since.
The club also has one of the most interesting and appealing colour palettes of any team in the French top flight – the mix of maroon, blue and white is unusual, but is a great bedrock for a cool shirt design.
Last season’s effort, also by Kappa, was a rather awesome chevron’d design that made great use of the colour scheme, but perhaps looked a little rugby league for some.
This design uses the same three-colour template as this season’s Bayonne shirt, but we love the way this particular iteration has used the white as a breaking band between the maroon and blue, it works really well, and even breaks up the slightly excessive sponsor count on the front of the shirt so it doesn’t look too cluttered.
Round the back, the jersey keeps things pretty plain and simple – and also reflects one of the big trends of this season by having the back be a single plain contrasting colour. We’ve been a little meh on these at times this year, but as it’s a continuation of what’s on the bottom half of the front, we think it works quite well.
The ‘Twitter handle on the collar of the jersey’ thing is a pretty common sight these days, but you’ll notice that instead of the club’s handle, Bordeaux have opted to put a hashtag on there – ‘#iloveubb’. Slightly corny that may be (and also in English… why’s it in English? Surely ‘#jaimeubb’ would be more appropriate), it’s probably the first instance of a rugby shirt hashtag we’ve seen.
Union Bordeaux Bègles are gradually cementing their status as a top flight entity, and whether it will stick in such a competitive league remains to be seen, but with a shirt this unique and nice, we’re hope they’re around for a good long time.
SHIT/GOOD RATING: GOOD
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