The All Blacks will wear their alternative white strip against France next week. Photo / Getty Images
The All Blacks will show just how much they have been inspired by their round-ball brothers when they wear white jerseys next week in Marseilles.
The test against France will be the first time since the 2007 World Cup quarter-final loss that the national side has been forced out of
their black jerseys. For one night only the All Blacks will be the All Whites.
On that fateful night in Cardiff two years ago, the All Blacks wore grey and were dumped out of the tournament to face the usual backlash from a distraught public.
So bad was that last outing that the New Zealand Rugby Union decided to dispense with the grey change jerseys altogether.
"We have gone back to an alternative white strip next week," said NZRU chief executive Steve Tew.
"The silver one suffered from the game it was worn in. It has been retired. We have traditionally worn white and it is appropriate for us to wear it."
It might seem a bit spiritual to have ditched the grey away jerseys just because of the memories they carried, but really, the decision was reached on commercial grounds.
As in it was too hard to sell replica grey jerseys that were both unlucky and ugly.
The jerseys are more of an issue for next week, with the need to get clarity around the scrummaging at Twickenham the No 1 priority this week.
The sight of IRB referee manager Paddy O'Brien and Saturday's match official Jonathan Kaplan at the All Black team hotel was a sign of how seriously last week's farce is being taken.
The All Blacks claim that they were the victims of inconsistent and shoddy officialdom from Stuart Dickinson was supported by O'Brien.
"There is no point in hiding behind the fact the referee wasn't accurate enough," was O'Brien's brutally honest assessment of Dickinson's performance in Milan.
All Black coach Graham Henry met O'Brien and Kaplan to ensure there is no misunderstandings at Twickenham in a facet of the game that will be evenly contested.
