Kit clash farce looms as France set to wear special pale blue shirt against England

England’s Six Nations finale in Paris on Saturday could descend into farce with France poised to wear a special edition pale blue kit that threatens to clash with the white strip worn by Steve Borthwick’s side.

Fabian Galthié’s team have confirmed they will don the anniversary kit, which is significantly lighter than their traditional blue strip, for a match that marks 120 years of rivalry between France and England. It is understood, however, that England will still wear their white kit despite the potential for a clash. Match officials are also understood to have given both kits the green light.

Six Nations organisers have been wary of issues with kits in the past and no longer permit Wales and Ireland to wear predominantly red and green strips respectively because of the difficulty colour-blind spectators have in differentiating between the two sets of players.

Organisers have said that World Rugby has also given its approval to the two kits being used on Saturday, however. England have confirmed they will wear white but not at their insistence.

“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,” read a French federation statement.

France are gunning for the title despite their defeat by Scotland last week and will know exactly what they need to do to defend their crown when they kick off against England. They head into the final weekend top of the table on points difference and regardless of what happens earlier in the day between Ireland and Scotland, it is almost certain they would secure the title with a bonus-point win.

England, meanwhile, will be condemned to their worst Six Nations campaign should they fail to claim a first away win against France since 2016. France’s grand slam hopes were ended by Scotland at Murrayfield but Ollie Chessum, who has been recalled to the starting XV, still believes that facing Galthié’s side away from home remains the Six Nations’ ultimate challenge.

He said: “Yeah, I’d say so. I’ve not been to France and won in Paris in an England shirt, obviously we had a game there two years ago that was very close, came down to that kick right at the end. Before last weekend there were people talking about them going for the grand slam. So grand slam or not, we’re going there to spoil a party at the weekend and finish this tournament in the right way.

“I’d say there’s a very, very strong likelihood that France are going to get a purple patch when you go and play them in Paris. How we run, scramble for each other, cover for each other, work for each other, that would be the big telling sign, that would be the big difference.”