I thought there wasn't going to be a 9's tournament next year? A bit strange to make a 9's jersey unless CCC didn't get the memo or it's become a habit.
I can understand new training jerseys or heritage jerseys but it gets a bit annoying when the home and away jerseys that are on a 2-3 year cycle get minor tweaks. You buy a $180 home jersey for it to be slightly off the following year. The did it with the previous model changes the collar colour I think it was.
From talking to the guys at CCC and Jim Doyle, it sounds like the 2018 gear was finalized very early this year. The CCC rep that I spoke to had already seen the 2018 Heritage jersey back in March (the only thing he told me is that it was again in the original colours). So based on this you would imagine that the 9s jersey was already created before they decided to scrap the concept.
It might be re-branded as a training jersey, or scrapped altogether........who knows?
Might end up being a players only training jersey, and therefore another tough assignment for Mt Wellington lol!