Third Jerseys in the Second Round of the 2010-11 Heineken Cup

After unravelling the mystery behind Toulon's blues, it's time we turned our attention to the prevalence of such third European jerseys, and their implementation - or lack thereof - in the second round of this year's European competitions.

Firstly let's look at Saracen's versus Leinster in Wembley Stadium.  Seeing as Saracen's home jersey is black, this would clash with Leinster's home jersey, a dark navy.  Protocol dictates that the London Boks must change their jersey, leaving us with this perfectly acceptable situation:

This did not happen, for reasons unknown.  Instead Saracens wore their home jersey, and Leinster their alternate.










Would it have been possible that Leinster made a specific request to the ERC to wear their third European jersey?  This would have resulted in the following:








Next we come to the new Italian rugby franchise, Aironi Rugby.  This is not a hard puzzle to figure out, but at first glance one might wonder why both teams are wearing the colours they are:

Baths' alternative jersey

Bath's home jersey

Bath's home jersey is black and blue, Aironi's home jersey is white.  No clash there at all, right?  Okay, so moving on to the next permutation, Aironi's alternative jersey is black, so that would clash with Bath's home jersey.  Bath's alternative jersey is white, so that would clash with Aironi's home.  And both teams donning their alternative kits would result in a black Aironi versus a white Bath.  Instead we were presented with Aironi donning their third European jersey at home, yet remarkably making Bath change into their alternative white jersey.  I say remarkable because it means Bath were not offered the chance to wear their home jersey.  Whilst this may seem trivial, perhaps Bath decided to allow this so as to boost sales of their alternative jersey?  This hardly seems likely considering the lack of prestige or media being drawn to a contest with an evergreen team such as Aironi Rugby.  In fact, perhaps it would have been more prudent for Bath to take this opportunity to don their very own third European jersey, as there is not much of a colour clash between green and blue...

Bath's third European jersey

From left to right:
Aironi's Magners League home (white),
third European (green) ,
Magners League alternative (black)

Next up we had Dragons at home to Toulouse.  Again, the visiting team were forced to don their alternative jerseys as Dragons kept their black home jersey on:

This could in no possible way shape or form be due to Dragons' alternative jersey constituting a colour clash, as their garish yellow alternative jersey could not possibly impact upon the viewing public's comprehension of the game:

A similar predicament unfolded at Racing Metro's hosting of Clermont Auvergne, whereby Clermont changed into their blue alternative jerseys even though they ought to have been extended visiting rights.


However this may have been a conscious decision by Clermont, as again it would be hard to describe their normal home bright yellow gear as easily confused with Racing's Argentinian-like jersey:

And finally, Ospreys hosting London Irish in the Liberty Stadium resulted in these jerseys across the shore:

Ospreys at home, in their home jersey, against London Irish in their alternative kit.  Let's break it down, starting with home versus home, perhaps not ideal:

Ospreys' alternate doesn't clash at all with the Exiles' home jersey

No clash, this is the combination that was used.

Both alternates obviously clash in a whiteout.

Ospreys' third European jersey is only a shade of aquamarine away from Irish's home kit.

Perhaps the light shade of Ospreys' third European jersey was thought to be too close to London Irish's alternate jersey.










From all the above, we can only conclude that the ERC are being very lax in their application of Section 3 of the Key Tournament Rules, and I quote:

For Pool matches and quarter-finals, in the event of a colour clash, the away club will change jerseys. For the semi-finals and final in the event of a colour clash the club selected to change jersey will be by toss of a coin.

Hmm...  How embarassing.  In my ferverent quest to research each teams possible jersey combinations, I have failed in the primordial task of checking the actual rules.  Nevertheless, it would be a shame to just toss this article, so I'll just try my hand at predicting the jersey combinations for today's rugby matches:

Glasgow alternative jersey

Wasps vs. Glasgow

Wasps alternative jersey

• Wasps home, Glasgow home (black vs. black)
• Wasps alternative, Glasgow home
• Wasps home, Glasgow alternative
• Wasps alternative, Glasgow alternative

Thanks to me actually reading the rules properly, we can safely assume it will be Wasps in their black home jersey, Glasgow in their pictured alternative jersey.

Biarritz vs. Ulster

• Biarritz home, Ulster home (pretty much same jersey)
• Biarritz alternative, Ulster home (clashes a tiny bit)
• Biarritz home, Ulster alternative (white against red)
• Biarritz alternative, Ulster alternative
• Biarritz home, Ulster third European



Biarritz's alternative/European jersey

• Biarritz alternative, Ulster third European

Ulster's third European jersey

I'm going to go out on a limb here, and predict that Biarritz will wear their alternative jersey (it seemingly doubles as their European jersey) and that Ulster will throw on their blue third European jersey.

And I am also going to write a strongly worded letter to the ERC asking why they did away with one of the coolest traditions associated with rugby - the alternate jersey.   For God's sake they're even referring to it as the away jersey now...

Toulon Get the Blues

While the title could just as easily refer to Peter Stringer's excellent try-saving tackle, err, shirt pull, on Toulon's right wing Gabiriele Lovobalavu, this post concerns the use, or lack thereof, of alternate jerseys.


Today Munster played Toulon at home.  Were no-one to change jerseys as stubbornly as Martin Johnson won't give foreign dignitaries a bit of the red carpet, both teams would line up as follows:

This lack of a pallet swap could prove problematic to those wishing to cheer on their favoured team.  So let's try the age old adage of the home team changing to their alternate jersey:

Not bad.  No real clash thanks to the hooped vomit concoction that is Munster's alternate jersey.  Hence the reason I was surprised to see Toulon's blue line up against Munster's red.  Let's play around with the possible jersey permutations a bit more.  Munster alternate, Toulon alternate?

Okay, now I'm beginning to see a clash of the titans - at least colour-wise.  So how about Munster's home jersey, Toulon's alternate jersey then?

Not bad, not bad at all, still think it worked best when Munster wore their alternate jersey, and Toulon their home, but perhaps both jerseys were too dark, or maybe not contrasting enough, for Sky Sports 3D purposes...  So we ended up with Toulon having to change to a completely new kit, one I recently discovered is their very own "third", or Heineken Cup, jersey, leaving us with no clash at all!  Although let's be honest, that game really did pack a punch, leaving Toulon with the blues!

Heineken Cup "Third" Jerseys Coming to the Fore?

In the 2000s a media guru by the name of Max Guazzini introduced the predominantly soccer concept of a third jersey into the very successful Stade Français team.  Mostly as a measure of improving revenue stream while supplementing the team's profile, the club's fine array of garish kits seem to glow brighter with every passing season, leaving us with 2010/11's third jersey, mostly used in European competition:


Other teams followed suit, most notably Bath, Northampton, Cardiff Blues, Llanelli Scarlets etc.  While Guazzini should be applauded for his entrepreneurship, it begs the question, are such jerseys necessary?

Biarritz Third Jersey - just for show?

Ospreys Third Jersey - expendable?

Cardiff Blues don't think so, and have scrapped their European jersey from last season, instead incorporating elements of it into both their home and alternate jerseys, with the home kit to be worn in all competitions.  Munster and Connacht have never had one, and up until this season neither had Leinster or Ulster...

Ulster's Rory Best - never had a third jersey...  Until now

Leinster's decision to release a Heineken Cup jersey had the rumour mill flowing, the main tidbit being that ERC was making a third jersey compulsory, but a thorough examination of their rules for both the Heineken Cup and the Challenge Cup state that if there is a colour clash, the home team must change into their alternate jersey.  Most Leinster fans seem to love this new jersey, the only lament being the lack of gold in it.  Meanwhile Ulster have been no slouches, releasing a blue (increasingly popular on our emerald isle this season) European jersey developed by Kukri.  Ulster and Leinster must have developed quite a bond after their combined provinces drubbing of Munster/Connacht, as their nigh on indistinguishable third jerseys show. Here's hoping they don't do battle on the European stage, for the spectators' sake!

Munster Alternate Jersey 2010-2011

Doug Howlett tries hard, but there's no real explanation for this jersey, and how the Munster Branch allowed it to come to fruition.  For God's sake, it even says "Colour: Black/Slime" on the adidas tag!!!

Last season we had the double whammy of the Santa suit (see Donncha on your left) and yellow high-vis vest (see Earls on your right).  I understand that Munster Rugby needs to make a profit in this professional ere, however surely to God there's some sort of quality check along the production line?

Some have suggested that seeing as the alternate jersey switches every season (as opposed to the home jersey, which generally stays the same for two seasons), it represents more of an opportunity to generate fiscal income.  Seeing as Munster lead jersey sales in the UK and Ireland (second are the Ospreys funnily enough), perhaps some thought this would be the perfect vehicle to capture the imagination of some of Munster's newest supporters in Limerick, those who say would also devoutly follow Glasgow Celtic...  Offended?  I challenge you to spot the difference below:

On the left is Celtic's away kit, on the right is Munster's alternate jersey, or wait...  Well you get the idea!  Others have argued that such a luminous slime green will allow better visibility of players in foggy conditions.  Some merit could be attached to this postulation, as Denis Hurley below does indeed stand out:

Leaving Nightwolf aside, there is the curious case of what could have been.  Still many are wondering what was wrong with the old navy alternate jersey, much like the "Missing: Irish white alternate jersey" posters that are being put up by concerned supporters.  Indeed, even a red version of this Slimer (of Ghostbusters fame) jersey has the potential to look semi-decent:

In fact, I'd rather take the combined provinces record 68-0 jersey or the new Munster training jersey over this odd Chelsea-esque adidas abomination...