Autumn colours

It’s an interesting thought, as we head into the 14th SuperRugby tournament, that the two most successful South African sides have been those who stayed truest to their roots.

The Bulls, South Africa’s only winners, were the Bulls a long time before the tournament started while Natal switched to the commercially more marketable Sharks in the third year (1998) but kept the basic look of their kit and preserved the unique atmosphere of rugby at King’s Park – even though financial imperatives eventually changed that name to the Absa Stadium.

Transvaal became the Gauteng or Golden Lions and then the Golden Cats while Western Province made the first tournament, dropped out in the second, with Free State coming in, and then re-appeared as the Stormers in arguably the most hideous jersey yet to make an appearance in the tournament – a jumble of white, blue, gold, red and green.

Later the Stormers, moving away from the oldest brand in local rugby, the blue-and-white hoops of Western Province, even had the audacity (and were allowed to do so by SA Rugby) to nick Natal’s colours.

The amalgamation of the Cats, the Lions and the Cheetahs, really had nothing either set of fans could relate to and the Bulls rapidly corrected an early aberration of playing in mostly red jerseys to go back to being the “Bloues.”

In fact I remember an early game at Loftus in the then fledgling tournament when the Cats, in a mostly blue jersey, were cheered loudly for scoring a try because the Pretoria faithful believed it was their team that had scored!

All this came to mind while sifting through a plethora of SuperRugby details, drawing up duty rosters for the new season and paging through the 2009 media guide.

Some of what is contained there is amusing, some tidbits a bit odd and some details downright incomprehensible.

Take the Stormers for instance. Their jersey is described as “navy blue jersey, navy shorts and navy socks.” A bit naff, that, because anyone who knows anything about Western Province rugby knows that that blue hoop in the famous blue-and-white jersey was and still is, since inception more than a century ago, described as “Royal Blue.”

And more thought could have gone into the description of the Bulls jersey - “Navy fading from the shoulders to waist. Sky blue colour and sleeves.” Fading is not a word that sits well with a team of title contenders.

Blue is the dominant colour in the competition and, interestingly, none of the teams have gone for green.

The Waratahs’ blue is known as “Cambridge blue,” while the Force’s jersey is described as “Ocean blue embraced by iconic swan;” after the river that flows through Perth or perhaps even the local brew “Swan Lager!”

The Blues naturally are in blue. Their jersey is described thus: “New navy, True Blue and Silver with image of Rangitoto Island across chest. (Rangitoto, an island volcano, emerged from the sea around 600 years ago in a series of fiery eruptions. It’s Auckland’s most recognisable geographic feature - a wide triangle of jagged basalt lava, which can be seen across the bay.) Now you know!

And the Reds? What is that colour? Maroon, crimson, burgundy, scarlet, ruby, cherry? Well folks it has a name - “Cardinal red.”

The Hurricanes jersey is (somewhat incongruously for New Zealand) described as “sunshine yellow with black trim.”

The Cheetahs’ jersey is a real concoction and contains an error. “White jersey with turquoise underneath shoulder stripes with orange colour.” Turquoise? Is that not meant to be the unique Peacock Blue of Griquas? Incidentally the yellow alternate strip is described as “Florida Gold.”

The Lions will be playing in a “newly designed jersey.” Unsurprisingly it will be a “red jersey with white trim”, always hoping that Canterbury have already made it!