After testing the waters amidst the pandemic last season, it appears that Super Rugby AU is now here to stay, alongside its cross-Tasman counterpart Super Rugby Aotearoa, and with the Force firmly back in the fold and the tournament actively looking to expand over the next few seasons, it means plenty of exciting new jerseys for us to ponder on. Let’s check out what 2021 has to offer.
Brumbies
The winners of the inaugural Super Rugby AU title have kept things predictably predicable for 2021, with O’Neills continuing with their slightly modern take on the classic Brumbies recipe, with the all important gold bars running across the front of the design.
The away shirt is gold with blue accents and a nice tonal chevron pattern on the front, complete with colour-swapped blue bars running across the front and back of the design.
Force
The Force made a spectacular return to Super Rugby with the launch of AU last year, having been excluded from the competition when it contracted to 15 teams in 2017. The Force were in Paladin Sports jerseys last season (which had originally been worn in the Global Rapid Rugby tournament) but now they join the Brumbies at O’Neills.
The home shirt pairs a blue to black fad with two gold bars across the front, while the away shirt’s black and yellow motif is a not to the club’s black swan crest. They also have the most ‘1980s Australian rugby’ vibed sponsor imaginable, which is great.
Rebels
The Rebels went and did something remarkable for 2021 – for the first time since 2015, they released a brand new jersey, in the shape of the white and pink number above with the dark blue chevron. It replaces the white, red and blue hooped number that somehow lasted longer than the Trump administration.
Still going strong however, is the blue Rebels home shirt, which once again returns with very minor changes having basically been the same since the Rebels first started out in 2010. BORING.
Reds
Since the Reds opted to return to a more, ahem, maroon, shade of primary jersey a few years back the club has been smashing it out of the park with its designs, and that’s certainly the case with Dynasty Sport’s offerings for the new season.
The home shirt sports the outline of the Gold Coast sublimated onto the front, with some nice striped accents on the sleeves and collar, while the hooped away jersey really is a thing of beauty.
Waratahs
The Tahs announced that their partnership with XBlades was to end after just one season back in September and quietly signed on with ISC (who were busy cutting ties in the NRL left, right and centre) shortly after.
The home shirt is very similar to designs the Waratahs have worn a lot in the last few years, though we do like the red piping on the shoulder panels. The away shirt is very nice indeed, with the sky blue and white hoops giving the jersey a touch of Racing 92/Pumas class.
Rugby Shirt Watch 