In recent years, New Zealand’s National Provincial Championship (formerly known as the ITM Cup, now the Mitre 10 Cup) has been pretty damn fruitful for Canterbury, and the reigning champions go into this season wearing a jersey once again supplied by Aussie manufacturer, BLK.
In the four seasons that BLK has been somewhat incongruously supplying Canterbury’s gear (‘you mean Canterbury don’t wear Canterbury?!’) they’ve tried to mix up the classic black and red hoops in a variety of ways, and sometimes that’s worked and sometimes it… er, maybe not.
This year, however, things have taken a turn for the retro, with one of the most classic, traditionally vibed Canterbury shirts in recent memory, with the classic hoops in full effect on both the front and back of the jersey, and for the first time under BLK, running down the shoulders in contrasting, old-school style, too.
There are a few concessions to modernity of course – solid red side panels instead of running all the way around, a slightly enlarged black hoop around the chest area for obvious reasons, and of course BLK’s insert collar and pointed coloured sleeve cuffs.
BLK has made a name for itself by constantly pushing boundaries and trying to do the bold, the modern and the unpredictable – but there’s a time when looking back to something more classic, and for a team with the pedigree and heritage of Canterbury, we think that’s entirely appropriate.
The Canterbury Rugby Union has been around for 130-odd years, and they’ve tasted huge success wearing those famous black and red hoops – it’s entirely appropriate then, for them to continue adding to that heritage and success wearing a jersey that fully embraces those colours in a pleasingly old-school way.
Rugby Shirt Watch 