The new Lions jersey for the team's tour to New Zealand next summer has been released.
We can all breathe again now. Move on with our lives, have free minds and spirits, a heavy weight lifted off our shoulders. For at long last, the British and Irish Lions jersey has been released for their journey to play the All Blacks in 2017.
The whole circus regarding the big release was 'cranked up' via an Oscar-worthy performance from coach Warren Gatland in the video below, released a couple of weeks ago to whet the appetite.
Then a day before the release thirty lucky souls were afforded the chance to see the jersey before everyone else across the world when a strange 'hologram' of the jersey was sent out to their phones, by virtue of them being "most committed" among the legions of loyal Lions followers out there.
The intriguing theme of the jersey is that it is "untouchable", with the notion being that only when one has earned the right to wear it should one be afforded the chance to touch it. To illustrate this, Canterbury in its 'announcement' tweet used a giant hologram of the jersey with a determined-looking Warren Gatland below it.
A giant untouchable @lionsofficial jersey launches the #LionsNZ2017 kit#CommittedToTheGame pic.twitter.com/VPzQsRDDSw
— Canterbury (@canterburyNZ) November 1, 2016
It's red, surprisingly.
But what provided some hilarity during the whole thing was the fact that some lad tweeted a photo of the jersey the day before it was due to be released.
FIRST LOOK of the Lions jersey for next summer's tour to New Zealand #rugbyunited #rugby pic.twitter.com/DHTpGm0AnN
— Nicolas Verdier (@nickverdier) October 31, 2016
