England v Fiji, 1999
England beat Fiji by 45-24 to advance to the 1999 World Cup quarterfinals in a seemingly unremarkable game, but not for those with a keen eye for playing jerseys.
Fiji met England in the World Cup knockout stages in France 2023 for just the second time, their first coming in the quarter-final playoffs in 1999 (a round unique to that year’s tournament format). 23 points from the boot of Jonny Wilkinson would make the difference for a superior England side that day in a seemingly unremarkable 45-24 victory. However, for any fan with a keen eye for detail and a love of rugby jerseys, that day at Twickenham was an exceptional one courtesy of the shirts worn by both sides.
For a team whose rugby identity is full of flamboyance and flair, Fiji have rarely pushed the boat out when it comes to their kit. A simple white colourway has largely been their go-to; even more recent designs that have included nods to tribal culture, such as the 2015 effort with tapa motifs under the arms and the civavonovono breastplate, have been subtle, perhaps in keeping within the Islanders principles of humility. The outlier, however, came in the jersey they wore in this 1999 tussle with England as Canterbury tested the waters of Pacific sensibilities.
While Fiji’s first-choice strip for ’99 was largely a copy of their ’91 effort, a plain white shirt paired with black shorts that was worn in their pool games against Namibia, Canada and France, the alternative took all the traditional Fijian aspects to the extreme. With thick black stripes on the arms and across the chest, an inflated palm tree, as featured on the Fiji crest, dominated the design on left-hand side, with a matching tree also featuring on the rear of the shirt. To complete the look, the usual white was replaced with a darker grey. This was a easily one of the standouts of that year’s tournament (Scotland’s orange monstrosity might just pip it), however it wasn’t entirely original; in fact, this was an adapted version of a shirt Fiji had used the season before on the 7s circuit. Regardless, for the first time, Fiji was brining that same flair to the 15 a side game.
Remarkably however, not only was this game the sole World Cup appearance for Fiji’s jersey, but also for England’s. Also in their changed strip (both, presumably, for commercial reasons), England’s rather stunning navy design, accompanied with thin red and white stripes across the chest and arms, was just the second time in their history they had deviated from white. The first had been on their tour of Australia, also in 1999, in a similar but slightly busier design, with the same red and white stripes featured along its length. As such, with both Fiji and England in one-off strips, professionalism and the era of needless changes did at least create a moment of jersey history.
