Puma Ultra Rugby Boots
Everyone’s on the speed game. adidas has the RS. Nike gives us the Mercurial. Puma joins the fun with its Ultra speed boot. And at a time when Rugby is becoming faster, there’s always room for more options to pop out.
Getting to Know the Puma Ultra Ultimate
Ultraweave upper
Same engineered fabric used for Puma’s high-profile kits
Speedplate soleplate
Dual-density outsole
Regarding the Ultra, the upper is made up of the ULTRAWEAVE material as the base. It’s the same engineered fabric that Puma uses to create their high-profile club kits. An anatomaical PWRTAPE overlays on either side of the integrated knitted tongue before a coating seals in the entire composition of the upper. Apart from the knit and the heel panel, ULTRAWEAVE covers the entire foot from heel to toe.
The Speedplate tooling is dual-structured-a stiff Peba base for the main plate and a more forgiving TPU overlay. The idea is that the combination of the differing densities would result to more snap, as is the case on the outsoles of modern speed boots. Narrow chevron-like bladed studs accompany the six fixed-in metal studs.
The Puma Ultra Ultimate is for me because
…I am some one with narrow feet. And even with my narrow feet the Ultra Ultimate still feels tighter than the likes of the Nike Mercurial. I don’t see how the Ultra can be comfortably worn by someone who is just slight above the average in terms of width.
Some may find the upper wanting because of how plasticky it feels despite having a textile base. But combined with the tight, secure fit, lockdown and responsiveness are through the roof with the Puma Ultra. These attributes are definitely must-haves for back players if they want to make sure that their boots won’t just fly out of their feet once they start running towards goal.
Because of how thin the upper is, you have a direct sense of the ball once you strike it. If you like letting the ball fly and this is the touch that you want, feel free to get the Ultra.
The Speedplate is something else and has that snapback that speedsters would love. The excellent thing about it though is that the forefoot has enough flexibility to make on-the-toe movements still feel natural and not restricted.
