Six Nations 2026: Why will France play in light blue v England?

France will wear a special edition pale blue shirt in Saturday’s Six Nations game in Paris to mark 120 years of rivalry against England.

Given England play in white, the change has raised concerns over a possible kit clash.

A bonus-point win against Steve Borthwick’s side will secure Les Bleus a record eighth Six Nations crown.

“Drawing directly from the history of the rivalry, the design of the match jersey – and its replica version – references the original light blue jersey worn by the French team in 1906 for their first fixture against England,” said a French federation statement.

“The 1927 FFR logo adorned on the collection denotes the year of the French team’s first victory against England, while the ‘Tricolore’ stripes are a nod to the French rugby kits of the late 80s and 90s, when adidas was the kit supplier of the federation.”

Reports suggest, external England, who are aware of the possible kit clash, will stick to wearing their traditional white shirt.

France usually play in darker blue so wore their white away shirt in the 50-40 defeat in Edinburgh against Scotland last weekend.

The Six Nations no longer allows red and green shirts in the Wales v Ireland fixture because of the difficulty spectators who are colour blind would have telling the teams apart.

Wales wore a white shirt last weekend in Dublin, so that it looked light compared to the dark shirt of Ireland’s green.