Gilbert has been chosen as the official ball for the historic Bledisloe Cup Match, which is to be played in Tokyo for the first time; following the success of last year?s match in Hong Kong.

The Japan Rugby Football Union said: "Gilbert has been awarded official ball supplier status for the Bledisloe Cup Match between New Zealand and Australia, scheduled to be held in Tokyo on October 31, 2009. Having a long and trusted tradition of supplying balls for many international tournaments, the Japan Rugby Football Union is confident that Gilbert's support of this world class test match will strongly contribute to the outstanding success of the event."

The organiser of Bledisloe Cup Tokyo added: "We are grateful for Gilbert's co-operation in adding prestige to this tournament, while at the same time contributing in an important way to the commercial aspects of the event."

Gilbert Sales & Marketing Director, Richard Gray, commented: "This will be a historic match and can perhaps be seen to mark the start of a new and exciting chapter for Rugby in Japan; following the decision by the IRB to stage the World Cup in Japan in 2019. We are honoured to have been chosen as the official ball for the event".

The Irish Rugby Football Union has renewed its contract with Gilbert Rugby as the official and exclusive ball supplier to its National teams.

Speaking on behalf of the IRFU, Commercial Director, Padraig Power, commented "We are very satisified with our relationship with Gilbert both in terms of the service and support they provide but also, most importantly, the excellent product they present us with which has helped us develop our Teams to reach the success that we have in recent years. We look forward to working with Gilbert with optimism."

Richard Gray, Sales and Marketing Director at Gilbert Rugby added "The National Team has done fantastically well this year, which was reflected in their dominance of the Lions squad to South Africa. This of course followed on from their tremendous Grand Slam performance in the 2009 Six Nations tournament. We are therefore especially pleased that the IRFU have chosen to continue their relationship with Gilbert which represents a further major endorsement for the quality of the Gilbert ball and demonstrates Gilbert's strong association with rugby at the highest level around the world. We are now looking forward to continuing our long-standing relationship with Ireland and wish them further success".

Gilbert supply balls for; amongst many others: Argentina, Australia, The Barbarians, Canada, The Churchill Cup; England, France, Ireland, Portugal, Samoa, Scotland, South Africa, USA, The Magners League, Super 14, The LNR and The Guinness Premiership. The Gilbert ball is widely regarded as the number one choice of professional players world wide.

The Argentinian Rugby Union has renewed its contract with Gilbert Rugby as their official and exclusive ball and equipment supplier.

Speaking on behalf of the UAR, General Manager Guillermo Accame, said "We are pleased to continue with Gilbert as our official ball supplier. We know that it is a difficult year for a lot of companies, where the marketing budgets have suffered big decreases. We thank Gilbert for continuing its support of our Union. This year, we've begun an ambitous high performance plan with locally based players which will be greatly helped by the increase in balls and equipment supplied by Gilbert.

Sales and Marketing Director at Gilbert Rugby, Richard Gray, said "The Pumas have had a fantastic run of success in recent years and have firmly established themselves amongst the top 6 rugby nations. We are delighted that the UAR have chosen to continue their relationship with Gilbert. This represents another important endorsement for the quality of the Gilbert ball and demonstrates Gilbert's strong association with rugby at the highest level around the world. We are now looking forward to continuing our excellent relationship with Argentina and helping the Union develop the game in Argentina. We would like to wish them every success for the future".

Gilbert supply balls for; amongst many others: Argentina, Australia, The Barbarians, Canada, England, France, Ireland, Namibia, Samoa, Scotland, South Africa, USA, The Magners League, Super 14, the LNR and The Guinness Premiership. The Gilbert ball is widely regarded as the number one choice of professional players world wide.

The Gilbert ball is the number one choice of professional players world wide and Gilbert are proud to supply balls for; amongst many others: Argentina, The Barbarians, Australia, Canada, England, France, Ireland, Namibia, Scotland, South Africa, The Magners League, and Super 14. Gilbert kit has been chosen by leading teams such as Namibia; Sri Lanka; the Blue Bulls, Nottingham and Boroughmuir as well as the RFU referees.