England have unveiled a dark grey alternate kit – the 10th replica shirt released by the Rugby Football Union in a little over three years – which is likely to be worn in just one Test by Eddie Jones’s side.
The new kit, which follows the release of a new home jersey in August, replaces the blue strip worn by England in both summer Tests against Argentina as well as last autumn against Fiji and the Pumas.
The shirt costs £95 and is “accentuated with a fiery red fade – designed to mask player movement”. It is also billed as the lightest kit ever to be made by Canterbury. England will wear it when they begin their autumn campaign against Argentina on 11 November, while the women’s team will also wear the kit against Canada in the second of their three-match autumn series.
It is understood that both sides will wear white in their other two autumn games, with the men’s team hosting Australia (18 November) and Samoa (25 November) at Twickenham. Considering England traditionally wear white for all their Six Nations matches, if Jones’s side are to wear the grey kit in another Test this season they would have to do so in South Africa in June. England wore white in all three Tests in Australia last year and in each of their three matches against the Springboks the last time they were in South Africa in 2012.
An RFU spokesperson told the Guardian: “At this point in time, these are the only matches that have been confirmed that the teams will wear the alternate kit.”
The RFU was criticised for launching a new kit at the start of last season, having released two special strips for sale ahead of the 2015 World Cup. That came just months after the RFU had unveiled two new jerseys for the 2014-15 season, featuring controversial Victoria Cross motifs.
Upon unveiling the dark grey kit, an RFU release read: “In line with head coach Eddie Jones’s vision to be more disruptive and uncompromising on the field, the dark grey colour was chosen as a point of difference to the usual colour palette used by England. Inspired by distraction principles, the red fade feature is designed to make it harder to distinguish aspects of the body during the tackle.”
Meanwhile, Jones has recruited Marc dal Maso as scrum consultant on a 12-month contract. Dal Maso was part of Jones’ coaching team with Japan at the 2015 World Cup, operating alongside Steve Borthwick, and is currently working as Toulon’s forwards coach. The 50-year-old former France hooker, who has Parkinson’s disease, will spend a total of three days with England during the 12 months but will also provide video analysis from overseas during the year.
Jones has brought in several coaches on a short-term basis in the past, among them Jonny Wilkinson, George Smith and Glen Ella.
The England captain Dylan Hartley will make his return from a hand injury for the league leaders, Northampton, against Gloucester on Saturday. He is joined in the Saints XV by Piers Francis, who makes his debut for the club at inside-centre having recovered from a jaw injury, while Gloucester will hand a first start to their summer signing Owen Williams.
Freddie Burns, who like Williams left Leicester during the close season, makes his first start for Bath as the Premiership’s bottom club, Worcester, arrive at the Rec still seeking a first league win. Charlie Ewels captains Bath from the second row.
Exeter welcome high-flying Newcastle to Sandy Park with Sam Simmonds and Jack Nowell restored to the starting lineup after missing the defeat to Leicester. Toby Flood is in line to make his first appearance since returning to Newcastle. Elsewhere on Saturday, Dan Tuohy will make his first appearance for Leicester following his move from Ulster as George Ford captains the Tigers for the first time at London Irish.
On Sunday, Wasps travel to Saracens without Jimmy Gopperth, who picked up an injury in the defeat to Bath and joins Danny Cipriani on the sidelines. Dai Young can call on Willie le Roux, who comes in at full-back with Rob Miller moving to fly-half. For Saracens, Maro Itoje starts at blindside flanker again while Brad Barritt makes his 200th appearance for the club. Owen Farrell will remain on the bench with Alex Lozowski continuing at fly-half.
