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Professional rugby players aren't supposed to ruck any more, but the All Blacks were quick to put the boot in for trials on their new test jersey.
The national team's new playing strip was unveiled in Wellington yesterday. The product of 28 months of development work by manufacturer adidas, the high-tech garment includes a number of innovative features added after consultation with a group of senior All Blacks.
The jersey was also refined after testing by those players. Flanker Rodney So'oialo said rugby's most famous playing strip was subjected to some severe treatment during those tests, including some fairly determined - and unsuccessful - efforts to tear the shirt off winger Joe Rokocoko's back.
While the new jersey seems to be weighed down with features - "ForMotion" technology, venting, bonded seems, and form-fitting fabric - it is actually 45 per cent lighter than the previous model.
"The best thing is that adidas have been really listening to the players and given them what they wanted," So'oialo said.
"One dimension I like is that when it gets wet it dries really fast, which is very helpful, especially with weight because of the amount of water that gets on you during a game.
"It's got to go somewhere."
The biggest change to the jersey is the addition of black on black mesh inserts, which incorporate an embossed fern into a side panel.
The new jersey was modelled by four All Blacks at yesterday's launch: So'oialo, Wellington team-mate Ma'a Nonu, Otago first-five Nick Evans and prop forward Carl Hayman. Nonu looked at home on the catwalk, while Evans and So'oialo performed with credit.
However Hayman, a solid 1.93m and 120kg, seemed less certain of his footing. A steady march down the runway was interrupted by a swift turn and a sheepish retreat back where he had come from. "I suppose it's all part and parcel of it," a philosophical Hayman said afterwards.
Adidas managing director Greig Bramwell said the jersey had been designed to let the players perform at their best.
"During a rugby game holding a ball, lifting, catching, passing and setting up for a tackle requires players to have their arms out in front of them rather than down by their sides, so the jersey has been designed to support that body position. It is a three-dimensional garment."
The All Blacks will first step out in their new strip in Auckland against France on June 2.
