Rugby: Edinburgh in all-new strip for Sarries clash

By DAVID FERGUSON
Published on 17/01/2013 02:06

EDINBURGH have been forced to create a new strip purely for Sunday’s final Heineken Cup match of the season, writes David Ferguson.

The Scots travel to Saracens aiming to regain a measure of pride by claiming a first European win before their campaign ends. But off the field the club has also been made to work, with Saracens refusing to wear their white change strip.

The London club wore the white kit in the first match at Murrayfield but are within their rights to wear their traditional black and red home strip and, contrary to the international rules – where the home team changes in the event of a colour clash – the visitors must switch. Edinburgh’s red away strip is still considered too close to the Sarries kit, so they have produced a one-off exclusive outfit which will not be on sale – only enough have been made for the squad – but will feature in supporter competitions and charity auctions after Sunday’s game at Vicarage Road.

“The club’s home and away kit for the season is designed, approved and in production long before the competition draw,” said Edinburgh Rugby managing director Craig Docherty, “so this isn’t something we could have anticipated. But we are delighted with the results and the speed in which our kit supplier, Macron, has been able to turn it around. We expect it will be very popular with supporters. It wasn’t viable to have it mass produced for retail but we will hold a competition for season ticket members, who will have the chance to win one of the exclusive shirts as a thank you for their support this season.”