ARGENTINA: It's hard to do something new hoops every time, but adidas made a good effort with the addition of narrower stripes at the top of each blue one.
AUSTRALIA: Another change of maker, this time to Kooga. The white collar had become a tradition but this was removed, otherwise though the green trim was well-spaced. The Southern Cross was rendered in a shade of gold rather than green, though.
CANADA: Another country singed up by Kooga, who used a similar template to the Australian shirt but with the colours proportioned differently.
CANADA: When the need for a change arose against Japan, it was black rather than white which Kooga opted to use. The red panels on the sleeves prevented it from looking drab.
ENGLAND: While it may look to be a completely pared-back white strip, the shirt did feature a pattern with squares arranged not unlike a Tetris game.
ENGLAND (alt): The announcement that the change kit - worn in the first game against Argentina - would be all-black led to some sections of the media painting it as a slur against the hosts. Of course, those articles failed to mention that New Zealand had often worn white themselves.
FIJI: In a theme becoming more popular, Kooga decided to place Fiji tribal designs on the sleeves but otherwise this was a fairly straightforward look.
FRANCE: Nike tried to channel the 1999 and 2007 wins over New Zealand by making the kit a hybrid of the colours used in those victories. While, from a distance, it looks like a gradient, the fade effect was achieved by using stripes of varying height.
FRANCE (alt): This was worn against New Zealand and (oddly) Japan in the pool stage. When France reached the final against the All Blacks, they won the toss for colours but opted to change as a show of respect for their hosts. We do wonder if NZ would actually have played a final at home in white.
GEORGIA: Also part of the growing Kooga stable, Georgia were given an almost entirely red kit apart from minimal white splashes.As a result, the unusual white pattern on the socks looked out of place.
GEORGIA (alt): A reversal of the red strip, as worn against Romania.
IRELAND: Puma had taken over from Canterbury and sought to leave their stamp, perhaps a bit too much. The 'speech bubble' effect on the collar was pointless, but the 'IRFU' worked nice on the grip tape.
ITALY: Presumably, the skeleton effect was intended with the large grip-tape area, giving the effect of a Roman warrior or one of Leonardo's detailed sketches of the human form. Or we could be talking rubbish.
JAPAN: A kind of a return to 'proper' hoops but, as with some Argentina shirts, the trim of a manufacturer's template can be too intrusive with such a style.
JAPAN (alt): With France inexplicably playing in all-white against Japan, presumably the Brave Blossoms' decision to wear black shorts and socks was to minimise any confusion.
NAMIBIA: A move to a bigger firm in Puma, who provided a plain template, resulted in the loss of trim colours such as green and yellow.
NAMIBIA: Placed in the same group as Samoa, the African country lined out in a reversal of their blue shirts.
NEW ZEALAND: Not as black as it had been as adidas paid tribute to the successful 1987 design by adding white to the collar.
ROMANIA: For the first time, Romania paired their yellow jerseys with red shorts at a World Cup. A subtle eagle watermark featured on the body of the jersey with a wing on the right-hand sleeve.
ROMANIA (alt): The colours for switched around for the second strip, which saw action against both England and Georgia.
RUSSIA: Their first appearance at a World Cup saw Russia in what was the standard Canterbury template. Thankfully, the grip tape was now rendered in a more subtle fashion.
RUSSIA (alt): The white change kit was worn against Australia. The shirt was a reversal but the home shorts and socks gave an unbalanced look due to the large amounts of red.
SAMOA: Kooga included the subtle imprint of several Tahitian Gardenia flowers, one of the few native cultivated flowers in the Polynesian region, while there was also a pattern on the right sleeve. The shirt had more than a hint of a purplish tint to it.
SCOTLAND: Again, a normal Canterbury template and navy shorts, but a pale gold replaced white as the trim colour.
SOUTH AFRICA: A cleaner look than some of its predecessors, due to some of the trim being in dark green rather than gold. Due to tournament rules on logos, the Springbok was now on the sleeve with the Protea crest on the front.
SOUTH AFRICA (alt): The Samoa game represented the first time that South Africa had played a World Cup game in a colour other than green.
TONGA: Very faint tribal patterns adorned the sleeves while a darker red was used on the side panels as Kooga sought to differentiate from the Georgia kit.
USA: Navy was now the first-choice colour, though red remained to provide trim with white acting as an effective buffer.
USA (alt): A reconfiguration of colours for the change kit, used against Italy an Australia.
WALES: Under Armour made their first moves into the international rugby market and gave Wales a modern look. The grip tape featured
WALES (alt): Black made it five different colours for Wales at the World Cup after red, green, white and grey. There was no actual need for it but the team played in this - the same design as the red kit - against Namibia.
The competition returned to New Zealand and the outcome was the same as the original running, with the hosts claiming the Webb Ellis Cup for the second time. There was a return to ostensibly cleaner designs, with grip tape and intricate designs rendered more subtly than in the past. For the first time, countries were allowed to carry manufacturers' logos on their shorts and socks.
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