ARGENTINA: Back in adidas after their brief Topper hiatus. 'Breathable' panels led to more intricate shirt layouts but such fussiness didn't lend itself to Argentina's hooped design.
AUSTRALIA: Canterbury issued a stock template to almost all of its countries with more than a few lines travelling across the shirt. Australia weren't helped by the grip tape being coloured white.
CANADA: Still produced by Barbarian, this wasn't much of a change from 2003, with the side panels removed and white now on the sleeves.
ENGLAND: Traditionalists were left aghast with a) the large swathes of red, b) the way it was indiscriminately sprayed on and c) the absence of navy socks.
FIJI: A first RWC appearance for Kooga, who introduced pale blue, the country's traditional change colour. Bar a funnily-shaped black panel by the waist, this was an inoffensive design.
FRANCE: As with 2003, France had the same design as England but now navy, rather than royal, blue was en vogue, with white and red sidelined to the point of non-existence.
FRANCE: The change strip substituted white for navy and was worn against Namibia in the pool stage.
FRANCE (alt): After the problems caused by the Scotland-New Zealand game, IRB officials were keen to avoid a repeat when France met the All Blacks in the quarter-final. As a results, France wore a hybrid of their two strips in a famous win.
GEORGIA: Certainly more traditional colour-wise for the Georgians but the irregular side panels didn't do the kit any favours.
GEORGIA (alt): Despite the lack of a colour-clash, white was worn against France.
IRELAND: The same Canterbury template as the other countries but with one small difference - no stripe just below the grip-tape. Oddly, this stripe was on the Ireland shirts for the 2008 and '09 Six Nations.
ITALY: A lot going on here with the various panels and shades of blues, but from a distance it didn't look the worst.
JAPAN: Continuing the theme established in 2003, with the jersey now red with white elements rather than a half-and-half hooped style. Shorts and socks were navy now rather than black.
JAPAN (alt): Navy version of the Canterbury template, worn against both Canada and Wales in the group stages.
NAMIBIA: Gilbert - more famous for making balls - produced the Namibia shirt, which was something of a lazy effort. This time yellow was the unlucky colour in the draw to see which was reduced to featuring only on the socks.
NAMIBIA (alt): White version of the 'home' template, worn against Georgia.
NEW ZEALAND: Difficult to see on first glance, but the All Blacks shirt featured large silver ferns (rendered in dark grey - or light black) down the sides.
NEW ZEALAND (alt): Instead of the usual white, the All Blacks opted for grey as the alternative colour. This proved problematic against Scotland at Murrayfield, with both teams looking similar from the side. Also worn in the loss to France in Cardiff.
PORTUGAL: The country's first and only World Cup appearance ended with four losses but the kit couldn't be overly criticised. Spanish sportswear firm Quebramar kept things fairly simple and didn't include any extraneous colours.
ROMANIA: Back in the traditional yellow, Romania were given a fairly attractive design by Irish company O'Neills though the squared-off collar style would have raised an eyebrow.
ROMANIA (alt): Oddly, this blue reversal was worn against Scotland, who were forced to wear white as a result.
SAMOA: The ending of adidas's long association with Samoa saw their rivals Puma take over. A unique collar style was introduced while a very faint tribal pattern was included on the sleeves and the sides.
SCOTLAND: Navy shorts remained while the design was upgraded to Canterbury's predominant style for this World Cup.
SCOTLAND (alt): For the Romania game, the shirt worn was a simple reversal of the navy top, with the shorts and socks remaining the same.
SOUTH AFRICA: Dare we say it, but white looked almost out of place on a Springboks jersey. Otherwise, the colours followed the pattern of the other Canterbury sides, including the odd shape on the socks.
TONGA: Like neighbours Fiji, Kooga were now the kit supplies to Tonga. Tribal effects were prominent here along with large white side panels.
USA: The last stand for red as the Super Eagles' main colour. Kooga were the makers here too, with a unique collar style used while all of the logos were very low and the navy trim was a bit too abstract.
USA (alternative): White and red switched places on this jersey, which was called into action for the Tonga game.
WALES: Many football sides had asymmetrical panels around this time and Reebok did something similar wit the Wales shirt. Apart from that, the pentagonal grip tape was the only adornment to the shirt though the white socks were something different.
WALES (alt): Another unconventional choice with dark grey worn due to the clash with Canada. It meant that Wales had set a record of wearing four different coloured shirts in World Cup games.
If 2003 had provided the first signs of more 'busy' strips, this is arguably when the phenomenon reached a peak. Grip-tape was now becoming de rigueur, almost intrusively so. The hosts France's move to a darker blue raised eyebrows, especially when it meant that New Zealand had to change from their famous black when the countries met in the quarter-finals in Cardiff. South Africa emerged victorious, beating England in the final.
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