The All Blacks have broken with tradition by allowing players to wear coloured boots for the first time in their history, a bold move that has opinion divided in the Land of the Silver Fern.

In their opening Test match of the season against Fiji in Dunedin last week a number of players such as Colin Slade, Jimmy Cowan, Adam Thomson and Dan Carter could be seen wearing white boots while Ma'a Nonu was sporting some bright orange and blue footwear.

The All Blacks have always worn predominantly black boots, and some former players have come out and expressed their reservations about the change which has been signed off by the New Zealand Rugby Union and backed by players.

The case throws up an interesting debate over whether professionalism is eroding the traditions of the game while some will argue that if you are not moving forward you might get left behind.

Major sponsor Adidas have been actively involved in the development which spokesman Paul Stephens described as a 'collaborative process' which was aiming to create 'discussion', before adding that there is more to come with several new 'bold' designs set to be unveiled during the Tri-Nations.

Stephens told the Sunday Star Times: "Everyone won't agree with it. When you make change, you open yourself up for criticism."

Former All Black skipper Taine Randell is not impressed with the decision as he feels that black boots are an important part of the all-black strip, but added that it is difficult to avoid change.

"I disagree with what they are doing. It does take away from the uniform. But it's a new generation and the fact is, things change," he said.

Legendary loose forward Josh Kronfeld said that playing in boots that were not black did just not feel right to him.

"When I was playing in the UK, I once got given white boots and I took a black vivid marker to them because it didn't feel right to be in anything but black," he explained.

All Black management have dismissed the significance of the decision, and manager Darren Shand said that they were far more worried about the performance of the boots rather than what they look like.

"We believe the most important thing is getting the performance right along with durability of the boot. Then it's about having colours people like to wear," he said.

Thirteen of the match-day 22 against Fiji wore black-dominated boots, but tellingly not one of the tight forwards were willing to make the change.

"The guys in the engine room never wear white," said Shand, "but that's their preference."

The team is set to debut a new playing jersey in Saturday's Tri-Nations opener against the Springboks in Wellington. Adidas and the NZRU have said the jersey will remain all black but there are other new developments.