The New Orleans is another area of the USA not traditionally associated with rugby, but actually has its own unique rugby heritage, which is being highlighted by the presence of the New Orleans Gold in the inaugural season of Major League Rugby.
The Gold have been born out of the amateur New Orleans Rugby Football Club, which has been a proud bastion of rugby in Louisiana since 1973, winning several national championships in that time.
Gold has always been a bit part of New Orleans sports culture, being a prominent part of the Saints palette, and being a trim colour for the recently rebranded Pelicans.
As a simple statement of what the club is, you can’t really find too much fault in this home jersey – the nicely textured front and back stops it from seeming too plain, while the contrasting white side panels give a nice retro touch to proceedings, which is also reflected in the old-school badge.
The away jersey takes a much more overtly modernist tack, that bares some resemblance to the Seawolves away shirt we looked at a while back. The white to gold fade is certainly striking, but there is something about the way it’s been done that gives it a bit of the ‘I’ve washed this on too high a temperature and now the colours have run.
Still, that’s not a bad thing necessarily, and as a way of setting out your stall in your first season, these NOLA Gold jerseys are certainly glittering.
Rugby Shirt Watch 