They always say no trophies are won until May...well unfortunately this season, nothing was won at all this month, so to help remedy that AND to serve as something of a rugby-related distraction during the COVID void, we've been running a light-hearted Twitter poll competition over the past few weeks to test the general opinion on the much-debated topic of rugby jersey design.
Is it all about how they look? Or do fans equate them more with the levels of success achieved by the team in question? Or is it an age thing? Something else? One thing's for sure - this competition won't settle any of those discussions as it's far from scientific.
But hey, we've had a bit of craic along the way and from a few dozen designs to start out with, we have now narrowed it down to a fascinating battle between two jerseys that were being worn as extra stars were earned above the Leinster crest.
On this, a "rest day" before the final, here's a look back over the course of the competition, together with some of your comments along the way...
MAY 8 : COMPETITION LAUNCH
MAY 10-12 : QUALIFYING ROUNDS
MAY 10 - TRAINING
Michelle Tobin (Munster fan)
The black one should be disqualified for being a rip off :D
Gav Heg
All of the Adidas gear for us is terrible. Cheap, flimsy and plastic. Canterbury was quality.
MAY 11 - ALTERNATE & WHITE 1
Paul Smith
Cant believe the blue and white square one was so low. Love the new purple and black one for this season though. Really looked great against the Cheetahs. 👍👍👍
MAY 12 - EUROPEAN & WHITE 2
MAY 13 - POOL STAGE DRAW
Comfortable enough win for the top seed in Pool 1 this evening - we'll see if the 2008 design has done enough to join it in the quarterfinals.
MAY 15 - POOL 2
Big win tonight by the 2018 Pro14 winning design in Pool 2 of the Leinster Jersey McJerseyface Cup. There was also a strong showing by the 2009 HCup winner, that could also make the quarterfinals.
MAY 16 - POOL 3
Pool 3 was comfortably won by the Cardiff 2011 top, we now have four quarterfinalists
Bert McLoughlin
Cardiff 2011 jersey 👌….my tip for the overall win, nostalgia
MAY 17 - POOL 4
...we've gotten two quarterfinalists tonight. We tried to "ringfence" some spots in the competition for some differently-coloured jerseys but I guess we're called the Boys In Blue for a reason!
Declan Finlay
Older jerseys (CCC) were far better quality.
MAY 18 - POOL 5
We labelled one of the Pool 5 designs "Unicorn"...
Many thanks to all who took part in voting for the pool stages of the Leinster Jersey McJerseyface Cup. "Bilbao" easily took Pool 5 tonight and the final spot in the knockouts went to our runner up from Pool 1, the 2008 Magners League winning jersey. Here's how they finished and as you can see we have our quarterfinal lineup, they'll begin on Wednesday evening.
Sebastian Brennan
Brilliant results. No Adidas? 🤣🤣🤣
Bert McLoughlin
My final prediction is 2011 v 2018
MAY 21-24 : QUARTERFINALS
The knockout phase was due to start on the 20th but as often is the case with such plans...
No surprise in the first quarterfinal of the Leinster Jersey McJerseyface Cup, with the number 1 seed "Bilbao 2018" easily overcoming "Magners League 2008" by a score of 66.4%-33.6% to reach the final four.
It was touch and go for a while but eventually the 2012 jersey won the 2nd quarterfinal of the Leinster Jersey McJerseyface Cup over "Amlin 2013" by 58.5%-41.5%.
Tonight's quarterfinal was no contest, Cardiff 2011 won handily 77.6%-22.4% over Murrayfield 2009. One more spot left in the semis, that will be decided at 5pm on Sunday
It was another big win tonight in the last quarterfinal of the Leinster Jersey McJerseyface Cup, with the 2018 Pro14 winning design overcoming the Pro12 one from 2014/15 by 71.7% to 28.3%. As you see, this leaves us with a final 4…
Richard Mifsud
Can’t argue with any of the four semifinalists
MAY 25 - SEMIFINAL 1
No doubt "Bilbao 2018" was the hot favourite going into this evening's semifinal, but I was still surprised by the winning margin, a whopping 79.8%-20.2% victory over "Twickers 2012". That gives us one finalist for Thursday evening...
Richard Mifsud
Much more than I expected 😳. I think it’ll win in the final too (the only one I don’t have FFS 😩)
MAY 26 - SEMIFINAL 2
Maybe because it happens to be the 2-year anniversary of Leinster winning the 2018 Pro14 title, the jersey took an early 60/40 lead making it look set to join the European design from the same season in the final...but of all jerseys to come storming back to victory, leave it to "Cardiff 2011"!!! It eventually prevailed tonight 54.4%-45.6%...
Noel Cuddy
Wonder which will win.......
Bert McLoughlin
My earlier pick for the finalists, thought the 2011 shirt would have won a bit easier though
Lorcán Murphy
Justice for 2011
FINAL
The Champions will be officially announced during our new show starting on Thursday evening...stay tuned and be sure to vote!!!! JLP
