When it was recently announced that, after a fruitful and original seven-year spell with Adidas, France would be moving to pastures new in 2018. We still have another season before Le Coq Sportif take over with Les Bleues, however, and so we have one final chance to appreciate the German giant’s work with France in the shape of a brand new change shirt.
You may well recognise this shirt, as it was revealed last week by France’s women as the jersey they’ll be wearing for the Women’s Rugby World Cup, but now it’s been confirmed as the men’s change shirt, too – and that can only be a good thing.
The most striking feature of this classic white change shirt is the presence of a pair of chevrons across the front of the shirt in red and a very dark shade of blue.
Chevrons are most commonly associated with rugby league, of course – they’re a much more common sight in the 13-man code, but it’s worth noting that over the last few seasons they’ve been quite a common sight in French club rugby, too.
This is Adidas, however, and we all know Adidas don’t really do conventional things, and so both of the chevrons here are actually made up of hundreds of tiny hexagons, that become more widely spaced as we move down the chevrons.
This geometric them, of course, ties in with the France home shirt that was revealed last season, which used a striking geometric pattern across the front.
In contrast to last year’s home shirt, however, we see that this new shirt incorporates the ergonomic collar design that made its first appearance on last year’s All Blacks jersey, and has also been seen on the France Sevens jersey.
It’s a very unique and distinctive look, and really sets the current crop of Adidas shirts apart from everyone else out there – as a good collar should. Combined with the midnight blue accents on the stripes and the sleeve cuffs, it all really rather nice.
Adidas have never shied away from trying something different with France – which is unusual for tier one test teams – and this shirt is no exception. We hope the Le Coq Sportif can keep up their high standards.
Buy the new France alternate shirt at World Rugby Shop
Rugby Shirt Watch 
Finally, a reviewer who calls a chevron a chevron and not a “v”. Lovely stuff.