South Africa Springboks 2017/18 ASICS Alternate Shirt

Last weekend, the Springboks wore what has become one of the most controversial and opinion-dividing jerseys in the country’s long and proud rugby history. So what’s the big deal? Well, let’s find out… 

Of course, the primary cause for concern amongst the jersey’s detractors is the colour – it’s red, and not a particularly chilled out one either. This is a bright, almost orange shade that absolutely refuses to be ignored.

Traditionally of course, Springbok change shirts have been white, or very occasionally gold, but this shirt is red for a reason. It’s designed to celebrate South Africa’s 25 years of unity, and it borrows the red and black of the South African flag to celebrate it.

Honestly, we understand that almost luminous test jerseys are going to put a few people off, but we actually think the red and the black work really well together, and we also like the way that the Springbok and protea have been given a complimentary colour treatment, and the same for the MTN logo.

Other than the colour, it’s basically identical to the home shirt we looked at a few months back, and that’s no bad thing – it has the same old-school collar, the same sublimated Springbok pattern… there’s not a lot to dislike.

Some people will straight up hate the very idea of this jersey, others will love it, and that’s entirely down to whether you think that South Africa should be playing in red – let’s not forget that the concept was considered April Fools worthy not too long ago…

Taken on its own merits, however, this is a very nice shirt, that uses colour very well – and even if you hate it, that Argentina game was the only time it’s going to be worn, so don’t worry about it too much!