This season has been something of a bounce-back for Montpellier, in more ways than one. They’ve signed Fijian superstar Nemani Nadolo, they’re going well in the Top 14, and most importantly of all, their new tie-up with Kappa resulted in the club’s first ever Gold Award for an utterly stunning home shirt.
The club are also back in the Champions Cup this season, and so the club’s European jersey is getting shown off at the highest echelons of rugby in the Northern Hemisphere… and that’s, unfortunately where the wheels have started to come off the MHR train for us.
Black and gold has always been the colour combo of choice for Montpellier in Europe and it’s also been the source of some rather eye-grabbing jerseys in recent years – and this 2016/17 iteration is no exception on that count.
Unfortunately, it’s also a bit… well… bleugh. We appreciate that the Occitan Cross is a symbol of the region, and it’s been a big part of Montpellier jerseys before… but this just flies in the face of all the classy good work Kappa has done recently.
This reminds us a little too much of the awful 2015/16 jersey that proved to be Puma’s swansong – all gaudy sublimation and tacky patterns, and that’s a real shame.
The basic combination of black and gold is such a winner – it’s a real shame that Kappa hasn’t been able to create a design that does it justice. We hope they do a bit better next year.
Rugby Shirt Watch 