Eben Etzebeth didn’t eat a Smurf – Why the English are to blame for pitch paint malfunction that ruined the white Springboks jerseys
Cobus Reinach left the Stade de France pitch looking like a pint-sized Hulk after a standout hour-long shift as the Springboks claimed a 32-17 victory over France last weekend.
As the veteran trodded off the pitch, the cameras captured him drenched in green paint, suggesting that if you angered him, he would start uncontrollably smashing up the pitch like the classic Marvel comics hero. Earlier in the game, it also looked as if Eben Etzebeth had braai’ed and devoured Smurf.
Heavy-hands and lower-grade paint
While South Africa donned their alternate white kit for the late-night kick-off clash in Paris, by full-time, Reinach and many of his fellow Springboks had jerseys that resembled something far more similar to their traditional green, with the pitch’s paint smudged onto the kit and the players’ faces.
The reasoning for the smudges? Lower-grade paint and a heavy hand by a British company, Amayse, who collaborated with Trace Sports, the French business usually tasked with painting the advertising on pitches in France.
This is according to Trace Sports CEO Jean-Michel Larroque, who explained the mistake that Amayse made.
“They paint with spray guns, we paint by hand,” he told French publication L’Equipe.
“They use Australian paints that we had for a long time, but for the last seven or eight years, we’ve had our own, which isn’t perfect, but a bit better. And above all, they’re relatively heavy-handed, while we’re more careful.”
He further explained that the French company took care of the in-goal advertising, while adverts near the halfway line, specifically the Quilter logo – the main sponsor of the Autumn Nations Series – was done by the British company.
The same for Fiji?
A source of publication further explained that not only were Amayse heavy-handed, but they also applied another layer of paint too close to kick-off, as touch-up work needed to be applied.
“The logos were approved in the morning, and there were several touch-ups around 3 pm,” explained the source.
They added that another issue was that the paint was applied using a sprayer at 8 am when the pitch was still wet.
Larroque predicts that similar issues will arise this weekend when France hosts Fiji at the Atlantic Stadium in Bordeaux.
“In Bordeaux, the pitch is much less lush, with less dense grass and a lot of dirt, which we’ll be painting over,” he explained.
“Three weeks ago (for the UBB-Bayonne Top 14 match) , it was very difficult to remove a logo there; the dirt doesn’t dry. The pitch isn’t perfect like it was at the Stade de France, where none of this should have happened.”
As for the Springboks, they are in Turin this week as they collide with Italy for the third time this year and are expected to do so in the white kit again. Good luck to the kit manager with getting that light green paint out.
READ MORE: Why the Springboks are in white jerseys against France and could be for the rest of 2025