A year on from the climax of the Rugby World Cup, many of the memories of the sport’s global showpiece have receded into memory for many neutrals, but there’s one moment of the tournament that none of us who watched it will ever forget – Japan.
The Brave Blossoms’ heroically unlikely win over South Africa was one of the greatest sporting upsets ever, and surely ranks among the greatest Rugby World Cup moments ever, and Japan return to Europe this November to take on Georgia, Wales and Fiji.
Which means not only is it a chance to relive the triumphs of England 2015 – we’ll also get a chance to appreciate one of the World Cup’s nicest shirts, revamped for non-tournament use.
So we get to once again appreciate the beauty of Canterbury’s beautiful curved hoop take on Japan’s classic red and white colours, but that’s not all. One of the great shames of last year’s World Cup was that they never got the chance to wear their change shirt.
With a match against Fiji in Vannes at the end of the month upcoming, there’s a chance that we might finally get to see this beautiful dark and light blue hooped iteration on the field… we can only hope anyway.
While neither of these jerseys are new per se, they have been tweaked for post-World Cup use – and that’s a very good thing. Not only are both designs absolutely gorgeous, but they’re distinctive, and bring back some truly awesome memories for anyone that isn’t a Springbok fan. Nice.
Rugby Shirt Watch 