The All Blacks jersey has always invested those who wear it with a certain edge but on Saturday, when they take to the field against England at Twickenham, New Zealand will be donning the latest generation of the fabled shirt. This one has been designed and woven with technology whose edge is the most cutting yet — and so, for the first time, have the shorts and socks.
The forwards and the backs will be wearing different designs, the latter insisting on the figure-hugging shirts that have been standard for some time now, the former asking for jerseys that can be more easily gripped at strategic points about the person. But the designers have not stopped there.
The All Blacks will be wearing compression socks, of the sort normally sported by distance runners. If you compress a muscle, apparently it increases the blood flow and helps to relieve fatigue — which will be great news for those lucky enough to be defending a lead against them with five minutes to go.
As if that were not enough, the shorts too have been given a makeover. This is another development. The jerseys of rugby teams the world over are constantly subject to upgrades and the All Blacks’ has been no exception. But the shorts have stayed more or less the same since the 1970s. Now, as opponents hopelessly grasp at anything in black come those lung-bursting final minutes, there will be as little give around the hips as around the torso. The shorts are longer and slimmer and for the first time manufactured with the same material as the shirts.
The forwards’ shirts, as well as being slightly baggier, come with a raised seam down the sides to assist players when binding on to each other. The only flaw here is that it will presumably help the opposition to scrummage against them too. But it is such a relief for a shirt’s design to incorporate thought for the disaster that is the modern scrum that it must be hoped others will follow suit.
Finally the jerseys are “blacker than ever”, a distillation of everything that black is, blackness taken to its furthest extreme. To this end the all-white trim has been removed. Even the silver fern is gunmetal grey.
No doubt the effect this will have on the psyche of the opposition has been extensively tested in focus groups but for those across the halfway line the headline is that the All Blacks are now fitted out with socks that will ease their fatigue and carbon body suits that will make them as dark and elusive as Batman. Things are not about to get any easier.
Israel Dagg is wearing the new adidas All Blacks kit for 2014-15, featuring the blackest All Blacks jersey ever. Visit adidasrugby.com and join the conversation @adidasrugby and @adidasUK
