Rugby: Tests show grey shirts too similar to French

Black, blue, grey or white? The IRB are looking at the options.

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CARDIFF - The All Blacks ran into fresh controversy over the colour of their World Cup jersey with quarter-final rivals France arriving with a strip for Sunday's tie here which is deemed to be too similar to the New Zealanders.

Tests carried out today showed a great similarity between both All Blacks shirts, the traditional black and their second shirt of grey, and the navy blue jersey of France. France's second shirt is white.

A toss of the coin to solve the problem gave the French the right to choose their colours.

"We'll play in blue. They're the French colours. It's an honour to wear this jersey," a French team spokesman said.

It is the second time New Zealand have run into this problem after their match against Scotland at Murrayfield on September 24 when both teams wore strips which were incredibly alike leading to confusion among spectators.

All World Cup teams are obliged to have two different coloured strips.

It's the first time that a dilemma of this nature has surfaced between France and New Zealand, who traditionally wear navy blue and black respectively.

But the problem has arisen as a result of the French opting for a navy blue shirt which they have worn since their World Cup qualifying matches in August.

The World Cup organising committee have moved back by 24 hours the final decision on the shirts problem to 11pm tonight (NZ time)

- AFP