Six Nations pitch given black mark by Scottish fly-half

The directive for Ireland to play in white jerseys and black shorts captured a few column inches in the build-up to the reigning champions’ trip to Wales in round three of the Guinness Men’s Six Nations. It was part of a World Rugby initiative to help colour-blind players, officials and fans to tell the two opposing teams apart.

Around one in 12 men and one in 200 women have Colour Vision Deficiency (CVD), and distinguishing between red and green can be particularly difficult if you’re affected by the condition.

However, on Saturday neither of the team’s jerseys – Wales’ traditional red and Ireland’s change strip – stayed the intended colour for long, with both kits becoming daubed in a sludge-like black as the on-pitch paint from the sponsor’s logo had failed to dry in time.

Can we stop painting logo’s on the pitch? I get that commercially it can make money but we don’t see this in football. Fed up of players and the ball covered in paint by the end of the game. Team kit and boots are ruined after the game. Shouldn’t happen!

— Duncan Weir (@duncan_weir) February 23, 2025

Plenty of people watching took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to give an opinion on the unsightly mess, including former Scotland fly-half Duncan Weir.

Weir, who won the last of his 30 caps for Scotland in the 2020 Autumn Nations Cup, posted: “Can we stop painting logo’s (sic) on the pitch? I get that commercially it can make money but we don’t see this in football. Fed up of players and the ball covered in paint by the end of the game. Team kit and boots are ruined after the game. Shouldn’t happen!”

Other paint jobs to gain notoriety in previous Six Nations campaigns include the 2018 match England hosted against Ireland.

With the Met Office issuing a snow warning in the build-up to the match, the RFU groundstaff took the perfectly understandable decision to paint the touchlines blue. But it ultimately back-fired on England as Jacob Stockdale used the extra space in the in-goal area after the dead ball line had been pushed back, to touch down for a record-breaking seventh try of the tournament. Had the old white line still been in use the powerhouse winger wouldn’t have got to the ball in time.