I woke up on Thursday last week and felt something weird. A disturbance, if you like. I guess you could say a disturbance in the force. The reason for this became clear when I saw a tweet from Hadyn sending me to this piece on the Wallabies website [you'll want to throw pepper over your right shoulder after clicking that link] about KooGa's release of their first iteration of the Wallabies uniform.

I don't like it. You'll know I have pretty strong feelings about uniform design if you've been here before, and not just found this post on a random google search of 'Australia is shit' - and as such, I formed a strong opinion about the uniform in less time that it took for google to search for those three words.

My first thought was when I noticed the wording of Qantas. The lighting makes it look like it's inset, right? [though on futher inspection I don't think it is.] Which I thought was cool. Then, looking at the enlarged image [click it to get a pop-out view] I saw that there's no more wallabra. Both of these were positives. Then I went on the hunt for better pictures, turning to my tried and trusted source. Instantly all the good feelings I had were gone.

Let's look at the jerseys for a start. The colour used has changed quite significantly - from gold to yellow. Almost like the canary shirts Wales are currently using. Which is all well and good, but this isn't Detroit. I may be mistaken, but I don't remember the Aussie's veering away from the gold uni for as long as I've been alive [and this pic from 1984 shows them in gold, as does this from 1979 - both well before I was born...]. I wonder how the yellow will show up on HD TV, where the Hurricanes strip which looks tamer positively glows under floodlights.

The green piping is a step in the right direction, as it is not overused, and is placed pretty well. I'd be keen for a look at the back though. It does look a bit weird without a collar, but that's just following the evolution of the modern rugby jersey. My final note in relation to the jersey is the star insignia. It's awesome. But can you see it? Look really closely at the belly of Benn Robinson and Berrick Barnes in the pics I've thrown up and you may just spot them. Are they embossed or in white? If they're white, I reckon that's a fail. Make them green, so they stand out. It'd still look better than the wallabra.

On to the shorts. One comment: Ditch the curved piping. Stripes look much better. Finally, the socks, which look absolutely terrible. Ok, the piping kinda looks like it lines up with the shorts, but it's still awful. And what's going on below the ankle? Why do they suddenly change to black?

Verdict: B-