In 1995, Gilbert Rugby became the official ball of Rugby World Cup for the very first time. Since that date, Gilbert strive to innovate and improve the match balls on offer for every succeeding tournament.
2019 - Introducing Sirius.
The Sirius Match Ball was first brought into action in November 2018 when the Rugby World Cup 2019 hosts took on the current Tournament champions: Japan vs New Zealand. Since then, Sirius has been used in Autumn International Series matches; Guinness Six Nations; Americas Rugby Championship and in the (current) Rugby Championship. The Sirius has already been used by all 20 participating RWC 2019 teams; ensuring the players become accustom to the new ball before the tournament kicks off in September.
In the production of the Sirius Match ball, Gilbert have enhanced qualities from previous Match Balls including the Match XV, used in the RWC 2015 and the Virtuo Ball from 2011. The main development that Gilbert have undergone in production is their new and innovative manufacturing technology that ensures consistency and precision when forming the balls.
“This new technology allows repeatable and accurate placement of its highly defined, and patented, dual-height star shaped pimples on every ball.”
- Gilbert Ball Engineer Ian Savage
Ultimately the outcome of this process ensures increased surface area contact to the ball for players which therefore increases grip in comparison to its predecessors, whilst maintaining Gilbert’s renowned aerodynamic performance.
Producing such a high quality match ball takes time, “The production of the Sirius Ball is a 4 year development cycle, this aims to peak a year before the Rugby World Cup to enable the ball to be used before the start of the Tournament” said Ian Savage, “The actual look and feel design specific to the Tournament took about 3 months to perfect.”
With Rugby World Cup 2019 just around the corner, buy the Official RWC 2019 Sirius Match Ball here and be the ultimate supporter.
