The only difference these days comes from whether the bench has a 5:3/6:2/7:1 split, although French clubs put their tight-head prop in the No23 jersey, and others have done it with their flanker (Leinster and Josh van der Flier in last year’s Champions Cup final)🤡

What has changed since 1998 is how substitutes are numbered. John Griffiths identified 2000 as the shift to having the hooker at 16, then forwards and backs. That year, national sides flip-flopped between that and the original method (Ugo Mola had worn 16 in the 99 RWC final)🔧

Standard numbering had the ease of spectators in mind. “Arsenal adopt rugby idea” read a headline in the Weekly Dispatch of August 1928. Sidney King, the West Ham manager, didn't like it and said the average spectator could “trace [players] by their position on the field” ⚽️

As this Grenoble team sheet from 1993 suggests, Willy Taofifenua wore No11 when he played centre 😱

From the Bristol Evening Post of January 1999 came the story of Phil Osman wearing No20 as Henley Hawks’ fly half, because four stand-offs had been lost to injuries and No10 was viewed as unlucky 🤕

The concept of an unlucky jersey happened every now and again. Clem Thomas wanted to wear No13 (a flanker’s jersey) at Coventry in 1952, though his predecessor had not 👻

I haven’t found conclusive proof of this, but legend has it Bath didn't use the No13 jersey for a similar season. A threequarter called Clifford Walwin took a blow to the kidneys from a tackle against Cross Keys on December 27, 1919, and died the following day.

Another variant in this decade was at West Hartlepool, who fielded a second row with a blank jersey. This was following the death of their No5 John Howe in 1992, due to a heart attack in a match against Morley.

Reports from back then said Bristol received dispensation to keep letters for 1998-99 because they had already ordered the season’s shirts, and would be on TV less 📺

You’ll still find references to Leicester’s letters at the club. The front row were dubbed the ABC Club, which didn’t correspond to Bristol because their letters worked the other way (until the subs)🤪 www.bobssportingmemorabilia.com/webshop-sear...

Wales used letters rather than numbers, as seen in this match report from 1932 🐉

Teams to this day are often still listed 15-9 then 1-8 (the flair way is to put No8 between the flankers), and that still is the natural way I would lay them out. Some teams used to have the full back in the No1 jersey, others in the No15 jersey 📜

Per Rugby Football History, numbers were first used in 1897 and had become commonplace in the Five Nations in the 1920s, albeit without a standard format 🔢 www.rugbyfootballhistory.com/player_num.htm

Until 1998, the Premiership allowed variations from 1-15. Even more famously than Bath, Leicester and Bristol still used letters 🔤

The team sheet here shows how Quins were numbered. Famously, their opponents Bath didn’t have a No13 📖 www.bobssportingmemorabilia.com/rugby-union-...

Keith Wood wore No25 for the club, even when he started at hooker. “There may be some confusion for spectators on Saturday,” the Northampton Chronicle and Echo wrote in September 1996. “Quins, for whatever reason, have adopted a soccer-style squad numbering programme.”