When the All Blacks played France in Paris last November, they honoured New Zealand’s veterans of military of service by wearing an RSA Poppy embroidered onto their jersey.
One of those jerseys has now been gifted to the Royal New Zealand RSA to help raise funds to continue their support to our veterans.
National President Sir Wayne Shelford said it was heart-warming to see this show of support from the national team.
“Pulling on the Black Jersey is incredibly emotional for any player. But having that mark of respect for veterans embroidered on the sleeve takes it to another level.
The poppy is worn to honour the fallen, but this gift from the All Blacks will now allow us to provide more support to our living veterans.”
The "Remembrance Test" was played on 17 November (NZ time) with the All Blacks wearing the poppy to commemorate Remembrance Day and honour those New Zealanders who have made the ultimate sacrifice in service of their country.
The All Blacks wore the white version of the national jersey to differentiate from France’s dark blue.
The jersey has been signed by the 2024 All Blacks Squad and Coach Scott Robertson and is a true collector’s item, with no supporter version ever produced for sale.
The jersey is being auctioned on Trade Me and closes on 7 May at 7.45pm – the RSA is incredibly grateful to the All Blacks for the opportunity to raise more funds to improve the wellbeing of New Zealand's veterans.
The auction can be viewed here: https://rnzrsa.info/ABjersey25
Background
A true collector's item - these jerseys were only made for the test played against France on 17 November 2024 (16 November in France). No supporters jerseys were produced or made available for sale.
As the test played closest to Remembrance Day, the All Blacks' jersey featured the poppy as a mark of respect for New Zealand's veterans of military service.
Although it features the number 14, the jersey was not worn during the match - it was the spare jersey held on the sideline incase a replacement was needed.
The jersey was gifted to the RNZRSA to auction off to raise funds to continue our support to New Zealand's veterans of military service and their whanau.
The jersey has been signed by Coach Scott Robertson and all members of the All Blacks' squad that were in France at the time of the test:
Asafo Aumua, Beauden Barrett, Jordie Barrett, Scott Barrett, George Bell, Sam Cane, Caleb Clarke, Ethan de Groot, David Havili, Rieko Ioane, Will Jordan, Peter Lakai, Anton Lienert-Brown, Tyrel Lomax, Josh Lord, Ruben Love, Damian McKenzie, Fletcher Newell, TJ Perenara, Stephen Perofeta, Cortez Ratima, Sevu Reece, Cam Roigard, Ardie Savea, Wallace Sititi, Codie Taylor, Mark Tele'a, Pasilio Tosi, Patrick Tuipulotu, Ofa Tu'ungafasi, Tupou Vaa'i, Tamati Williams
