The two teams will never wear home kits against each other again – and it’s fantastic news
FOR the first time in Six Nations history Ireland were not wearing their famous green jerseys in the game against Wales in Cardiff last Saturday (February 22).
As a colour blind person, I shared my views on the decision in an article two weeks ago and, as it turned out, it gained quite a bit of attention.
The BBC even picked it up, and I made a very nervous appearance on Saturday morning Breakfast where I probably gave Wales more of a slating than they deserved.
But did Ireland playing in white even make that much of a difference to colour blind people, I hear you ask? Was ruining 143 years of tradition really worth it to help less than 5% of those watching?
The short answer is yes, of course it was, to the point where the kit swap was way more helpful than I thought it would be.
As far as my colour blindness goes, red and green have never been as difficult to tell apart than blue or purple, say, or red and brown. But the switch to white really did have a great impact.
I was lucky enough to be in the Principality Stadium for the last two matches between Wales and Ireland and I can say without a shadow of a doubt that last Saturday’s game was vastly more enjoyable and not just because Wales played a whole lot better this time.
The above photos show the game in 2023 with Ireland in green and in 2025 with Ireland in white. Even for a non-colour blind person it is easier to tell each team apart. For me, however, the difference in ease of watching is multiplied by a thousand – the difference is night and day.
At no point during the game did I have to strain my eyes or ask whoever I was sitting next to for help in telling players apart.
This meant that I was able to enjoy the game a whole lot more and could follow the game with total ease.
On top of this Wales looked fantastic with Tom Rogers scoring one of the best tries I have had the pleasure of seeing in person.
Both the change in kit and change in fortune of Wales meant that the whole experience was probably the most fun I have had at a rugby match.
I am now really looking forward to next year’s clash in Dublin where it will be Wales’ turn to drop their famous red jersey in favour of whatever colour their away kit may be.
I ended my last article on colour blindness by saying both Wales and my eyes are rubbish. This time I am a whole lot more positive because, like the world’s attitude to people with colour blindness, Wales are getting better.
