Season in Kits – France rugby, 2013-14

June of 2024 will see adidas return as the manufacturer of the France rugby kit.

It will be a third stint with the FFR for the German firm, who supplied the strip during the 1980s and 1990s before Nike took over.

In 2011, the FFR announced that a new deal had been agreed with adidas and it came into force for the 2013 Six Nations Championship. In terms of design, the new shirts called to mind the classic look of Les Bleus while also being modern and dynamic.

While there was a mashup of white shirts, blue shorts and red socks against Samoa, one quibble would be the lack of white shorts on the primary outfit to create the traditional Tricolore look, but that was back – kind of – for the second set that adidas produced after returning.

These new uniforms were first seen in the November internationals in 2013. Nike had introduced navy to the France palette during their tenure and it was to be seen here too, with the blue shirt having herringbone pattern that created a hooped look from a distance.

The first game for the new kit was against New Zealand, who were forced to change into their white shirts, with France opting for white shorts – thankfully, it was a more pleasing match-up than the 2007 Rugby World Cup quarter-final meeting.

In their next outing, against Tonga, it was France who changed, showcasing their new white alternative strip. It followed the same design as the main kit, with the adidas striping carrying across the upper back, and navy shorts were used along with the white shirts and socks.

One notable change with the second strip was the fact that, on the crest, the Gallic rooster was housed in a blue shield rather than the traditional red.

France’s last November international, against South Africa, saw them in the first-choice shirts but this time with navy shorts – however, as these had a red shield, they were a bespoke set rather than those used against Tonga.

The following spring, France adopted a novel kit approach for the Six Nations – in home games, the navy shorts were used and in away matches they went blue-white-red.

The one exception to this was of course the home game against Italy, when France changed to white.

For that match, they went with white shorts, featuring the blue shield, completing the set – two sets of navy shorts and two sets of white, almost identical but separated by the crest.