Ireland to wear puma

[on tour]

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport ... 00447.html

IRFU to land €15m kit deal

The IRFU are in line for a multi-million euro windfall after agreeing a new sponsorship deal with Puma, believed to extend beyond the 2015 World Cup.


The current contract with New Zealand company Canterbury expires at the end of this season but an agreement has already been struck with German sportswear company Puma.

This could net the IRFU as much as €15million in an inclusive deal incorporating the supply of on-field, training and leisure wear to Ireland's Senior, A and underage teams.

[AndyB]

Canterbury seem to be losing a lot of ground in Ireland. They used to have the Ireland team and all 4 provinces but after this only Leinster will be left.

Quite a number of the schools (well the good ones anyway) still wear Canterbury but I don't know how long those contracts last for.

[mikerob]

I've heard it said that Canterbury just didn't do a particularly good job of looking after their customers in Ireland and the other companies were hungrier for the business.

[darkside lightside]

thank goodness - that last ireland shirt is one of the biggest pile of balls i've ever seen

[on tour]

canterburys recent rugby shirts have been nothing less than god awful, but they may be the lesser of 2 evils, ive only seen puma make rugby league kits for England RL, St Helens and harlequins RL and their shirts arent anything to get excited about. Canterbury seems to have gone down hill since they tried branching into football, and in my opion will only get worse if they start making the kits for the old firm as suggested recently in the scottish press.

[AndyB]

The Ireland shirts were okay until this latest design and the change to a darker green. The Scotland one is awful with those grey patches. Ireland should go back to a nice bright green.

[mikerob]

Bath and Biarritz Puma shirts

[fuzzylogic]

Quite a number of the schools (well the good ones anyway) still wear Canterbury but I don't know how long those contracts last for.

The "good schools" as you say charge stupidly high fees compared to every other school in Ulster, they can afford to wear canterbury. When my school changed from Canterbury to Kukri we were paying about a tenner less per shirt and also a lot less for tracksuits, shorts and socks. As far as im aware they also gave us a lot of training equipment etc free that Canterbury would not have, and free Leeds Rhinos tickets.

[AndyB]

That is actually true. The kits Canterbury supply for the 1st XV at MCB are good but the ones for the rest of the teams are very average.

[AndyB]

The kukri kit produced for Lisnagarvey hockey club is good stuff.

[ColinM]

I couldn't care less really, the puma kit looks all right and i thoroughly dislike any of the new breed of Canterbury rugby shirts. Hopefully Puma will be able to dye their fabric the proper colour of green. I much prefer the Ulster Kurki range than the new Canterbury stuff anyway.

I associate the current shirt with the woeful performances of the RWC07 and 6N'08. however if we were to win the 6N or heaven forbid i say the words grand slam this year i may view it differently.

[fuzzylogic]

The Kukri Ulster kit ain't bad either!

[Freebird]

From what i've heard the change is partly because Canterbury are going to the wall. Global credit crunch eh?

[fuzzylogic]

Hopefully Puma will be able to dye their fabric the proper colour of green

I was never aware there was a proper colour of green! I always thought green was the coulour itself, is there improper green Colin?!

[darkside lightside]

I associate the current shirt with the woeful performances of the RWC07 and 6N'08.

me too, it doesn't help....