Fans lament the 'fitting' way that Super Rugby Aotearoa is signing off for 2020
Super Rugby Aotearoa has been an excellent competition – there’s no doubt about it. While any rugby would have been looked upon favourably after the extended period without sport earlier in the year, the solely New Zealand competition has been incredibly well-received for a multitude of reasons.
One aspect that has frustrated fans, however, is the needless use of alternative strips – especially given the fact that only two sides in the competition share the same primary colour on their uniform.
When the Blues hosted the Highlanders in the early rounds of Super Rugby Aotearoa, the Blues donned their secondary strips – which were effectively just a lighter shade of blue. This created an unfortunate jersey clash, which made the match unnecessarily difficult to follow.
It brought back memories of the clash between the Highlanders and the Blues from earlier in the season when the Bulls were forced to change kits at half-time due to the similarities of the uniforms.
Now, in the final match of Super Rugby Aotearoa, played in front of an empty stadium due to coronavirus restrictions, the Highlanders have once again been involved in a ridiculous jersey situation.
The travelling Hurricanes, instead of wearing their traditional yellow and black jerseys, marched out onto the field wearing their grey-blue alternate strips – and fans were instantly incensed.
FFS why aren't @Hurricanesrugby in yellow? #HIGvHUR @TheCountry @rowie_nz @blairdrysdale77 @deanrabbidge @skysportnz
— Andrew Thompson (@Pandasport) August 15, 2020
First the game has no crowd and now there’s the most stupidest kit clash ????? #HIGvHUR
— ryanator109 ?? (@ryanator109) August 15, 2020
It was bad enough that the Hurricanes were wearing an ‘away’ strip when there was no clash in the first place – but the change actually created a clash, with the dark blue of the Highlanders fairly similar to the grey Hurricanes jerseys.
They've actually made a jersey clash when there wasn't one. #HIGvHUR
— Mark Currie (@MarkCurrieNZ) August 15, 2020
Slightly torturous watching Highlanders in dark blue and Hurricanes in grey #HURvHIGH
— Matt Hall-Smith (@MattHallSmith21) August 15, 2020
Can someone explain why the @Hurricanesrugby are playing in blue as well as the Highlanders? Nightmare for TV viewing which is what everyone has to do. #HIGvHUR
— Ben Carswell (@bcarswell) August 15, 2020
Why are the Canes not wearing yellow? Talk about a colour clash? #HIGvHUR
— ¯_(?)_/¯ (@Vinsanity275) August 15, 2020
Stupid choice of team colours @SuperRugbyNZ . Very hard to clearly distinguish each team on @skysportnz #HIGvHUR
— Gungehammer (@Gungehammer) August 15, 2020
I understand the marketing side of it but damn blue vs yellow is a much nicer contrast than blue vs grey ? #HIGvHUR
— Jake Beleski (@JBeleski) August 15, 2020
Who approved this ridiculous jersey clash!? Can we please give Adidas the ? and play in home jerseys all the time next season? #HIGvHUR #SuperRugbyAotearoa
— Alister L (@al_nz) August 15, 2020
The piped-in crowd noise is weird and echo-y but definitely better than eerie silence. Wish the Canes were wearing their normal colour jerseys coz the lilac is harder to tell from the Highlanders' blue on wide shots. #HIGvHUR
— Asher Wilson-Goldman (@AsherGoldman) August 15, 2020
Sunlight is streaming into our lounge, and we can’t tell the difference between the Highlanders in navy and the Hurricanes is grey. The requirement to wear an away strip when there’s no clash of colours is just bizarre. #SuperRugbyAotearoa #HIGvHUR
— Tony Stuart (@TonyStuart55) August 15, 2020
@NZRugby @Hurricanesrugby @skysportnz Can we get them to change shirts? Rubbish for EVERY fan having to watch on TV #HIGvHUR #kitclash
— Ben Carswell (@bcarswell) August 15, 2020
The only disappointing aspect of #SuperRugbyAotearoa would have to be the away jerseys and more importantly the clashes for some games. Who signed off @Hurricanesrugby not wearing their normal yellow strip for this game? #HIGvHUR
— Paul Muollo ???? (@88TheDon) August 15, 2020
Some fans were also quick to jump on the irony of the match officials wearing yellow, the Hurricanes’ normal colours.
Hurricanes had to wear alternative strip so they didnt clash with the ref?? #HIGvHUR
— Mediocrates (@mediocrates007) August 15, 2020
Jersey colours are far too similar in #HIGvHUR game. The match officials are wearing yellow, guess I'll cheer for them!#SuperRugbyAotearoa
— Wendy Ross (@Zacross) August 15, 2020
Surprised the ref isn’t wearing a shade of blue to match the teams #SuperRugbyAotearoa #HIGvHUR
— Gavin Huet (@GavinHuet) August 15, 2020
While there’s no argument that Super Rugby Aotearoa has been a raging success, despite the interruptions in the final round due to the global pandemic, fans will be eternally hopeful that the jersey situation is cleared up for the future. As rugby historian Jamie Wall noted, however, the colour clash was a laughably suitable way for the competition to sign off for the year.
Fitting to finish Super Rugby 2020 with a jersey clash.
— Jamie Wall (@JamieWall2) August 15, 2020
Comments on RugbyPass
Interesting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
2 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
2 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
2 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
37 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
2 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
1 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
5 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
33 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to comments