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Iain Payten
The Daily Telegraph
June 08, 2015 7:45PM
THE science behind designing the perfect rugby jersey has continued to evolve but luckily the basic rugby mind hasn’t.
So when white-coated scientists from ASICS head office in Japan came to Canberra to conduct tests for the build of a new Wallabies jersey, their requests came in a shared language Stephen Moore and bemused teammates could understand.
“They basically told us to try and rip it off each other,” Moore said.
The success — or lack of it — was noted down and along with the results of a year-long process that also saw Israel Folau fly to Japan for testing, the end product will be revealed on Wednesday with the launch of the Wallabies’ new 2015 World Cup strip.
Playing kit is never going to win you a World Cup on its own but given sport involves such fine margins these days, the time, effort and money that goes into jersey design reflects the desire of a team — and manufacturer — to eek out any extra advantage. Particularly in a World Cup year.
Long gone are the days of baggy cotton jerseys that grew a kilo or three heavier with sweat and mud, and more recently gone is any hint of loose fabric that could offer a lifeline to a desperate defender.
ASICS took over the Wallabies kit sponsorship last year and said they immediately wanted feedback from players.
“They said two things: they wanted the jersey to be lighter, and secondly they wanted the jersey to be harder to grab, so they were the two things we wanted to deliver when we started developing the 2015 jersey,” said ASICS Australian general manager of marketing Sam Chew.
“If it is not meaningful to the player, it is not meaningful to the whole process because they have to understand whatever technology that is put in there is actually giving them an advantage in matchday competition.”
Verbal feedback is one thing, hard data is another. So Folau was flown to Japan earlier this year to the ASICS Institute of Sport Science in Kobe and with cords and biomechanic tracking balls hanging off him, was put through a “whole battery” of tests. Computers whirred as Folau sprinted, lifted, tackled and stepped; helping the Japanese scientists study the “forces exerted in rugby” by one of the world’s elite.
“I am sure he wouldn’t have always know what was going on but he was very happy to participate,” Chew said.
Wallabies players have even been put through 3D body mapping to get the fit right.
“It was important to give them touch and feel as well, to say it’s too tight around here or its too loose around here, and we can adjust accordingly,” Chew said.
“To optimise the jersey’s fit it has to be tight but doesn’t restrict their movement, and if we are to make it lighter, it also has to be durable. So it's a matter of getting players to put it on and getting players to try and basically rip the jersey off each other.”
In all 20 Asics scientists were involved in designing the new Wallabies World Cup strip, Chew said.
But, honestly, it has to be asked: how much does a jersey really matter? Does it seriously make a lick of difference?
Moore says when a Test is in full swing, you could be wearing a gold hessian sack and care less.
But even as a grizzled forward without the same depth of concern for style or sleeve tightness as the backs, Moore says the “cut and feel” of a jersey definitely has a role in facilitating performance.
“It’s probably almost a mental thing as much as anything,” he said.
“When you get a good feeling jersey it makes a difference for sure, so it was good to have some input.”
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