THE COLLAPSE of Canterbury Europe Ltd was unfortunate for Irish rugby in a couple of ways.

It left Heineken Cup champions Leinster scrambling around for a new kit maker just one week after the launch of the new Canterbury jersey and less than two months in advance of its first Magners League game.

Puma, new sponsor to the Irish team, has been mentioned in dispatches as a possible replacement. Either way, Leinster is now one of the big unsecured creditors of Canterbury, which entered administration this week.

It also left the IRFU out of pocket. Informed sources tell me the rugby union is owed a seven-figure sum. Canterbury’s reputed €8 million sponsorship of the Irish jersey ended last season.

The IRFU remained tightlipped this week about what it is owed.

The union can take some comfort from the fact that it has a new kit sponsor in Puma. Again, the IRFU was not prepared to divulge the financial details of the eight-year contract.

My source tells me that the deal could earn the IRFU as much as €8 million a year, if the Irish team were to meet all the various bonus clauses in the contract, which is probably unlikely.

A spokesman for the august rugby body poured cold water on this suggestion.

I’m assured, however, that the deal is one of the biggest on Puma’s books.

The IRFU shouldn’t be so media-shy about its deal-making successes.