Daryl Haberecht and the Black Jersey Era of NSW Country Rugby

These days, elite rugby is tightly managed, heavily analysed and carefully planned. Most decisions are backed by data, review sessions and performance staff. But long before any of that existed, some of the sharpest tactical thinking in Australian rugby was coming out of NSW Country — and one of the main drivers of that thinking was Daryl Haberecht. Haberecht was coach of NSW Country from 1974. He became known for backing unconventional ideas if they gave his teams a better chance against stronger, better resourced opposition. In 1978, Daryl was appointed Wallabies head coach — a rare path from country rugby to the national job. One of the lesser-known changes he pushed at Country level was the move to a black playing strip in the mid to late 1980s. The background to this came up recently on the 'History of the Jersey' Facebook page after photos were posted of an old black CRU jersey. Former players and officials weighed in on how the change came about. Phil S - "I think 87 or 88. It was definitely Daryl's initiative. His theory was that the orange jersey caught the ref’s eye and was responsible for 2 or 3 extra penalties a game". Mark M. - "Phil...At the CRU AGM in 1986, Daryl moved for the change of colour from gold to black for the reasons you outlined. The motion was defeated then, but was successfully put in either 1986 or 7". It was a small change, but it reflects the way Haberecht thought about the game — looking for marginal gains that could provide any advantage for his beloved country side. That same mindset produced some of the most talked-about tactical moves in Australian rugby: • “Up the Jumper” (1975) — used by NSW Country against Sydney, where the ball was tucked up into a players jumper from a restart to create immediate broken-field play. It worked because the opposition had no idea where the ball was as the 'huddle' of players broke and went every which way'. • “Over the Top” (1989 vs British & Irish Lions) — involving winger Dwayne Vines running directly over the top of a dominant Lions scrum, turning what should have been a loss of possession into attacking ball. None of this was accidental. It came from a coach prepared to challenge how the game was normally played, especially when his teams were giving away size, depth and resources. As rugby becomes more structured and more data-driven, it’s worth remembering that some of the game’s most effective ideas started with coaches who were prepared to think sideways — and back it. And in this case, even a jersey colour was part of the tactics. In every jersey, there’s a story.