REVIEW: Canterbury's new Ireland jersey for the 2025/26 season

The campaign name is “Landscape of Legends”, with the imagery intended to celebrate the heritage of Ireland's great outdoors and wild environments, "from the vibrant greens of its countryside to the dark depths of its night skies". The jersey pays tribute to the natural forces that have, “given rise to some of the toughest players in the world.”

The range will be available to purchase via official sports retail partner Intersport Elverys and online at https://www.canterbury.com/collection/ireland-collection.list from Wednesday 10th September.

The home jersey’s colour is termed Cadmium Green, chosen for its richness and its connection to Ireland’s landscapes. There’s also a black Pre-Game shirt which draws inspiration from Ireland’s night skies.

The Cadmium Green finish gives the home jersey that vivid, lush feel, designed to match the various shades of vibrant green from across Ireland's countryside. It’s deeper and more saturated than some recent editions of the Ireland home jerseys, with a unique pattern embossed on the front panel.

Inspired by landscapes, the decorative textures are more than just eye-catching in nature, the unique patches are meant to be evocative: light and shade, terrain, ocean swell - to bring the elements of Ireland’s natural world to the Aviva Stadium stage.

The badge is embossed and embroidered, including a textured, rubber-like shamrock, which adds depth and physical presence with symbolism made tactile. The collar follows a hybrid style: not a full fold-down collar, but side collar panels with a single front button. This is in line with the design team’s note during the launch: “We saw great reception to the collar, so have brought that into this year’s home kit.”

Taking the launch’s emphasis on “highest level performance,” the technical aspects definitely aim to deliver on that promise. This certainly appeals to those fans that are looking to pick up the jersey for their own rugby training or fitness session, however the causal supporter may differ in their opinion for a trip down the local pub.

The professional performance elements of the jersey is made to be extremely tight, with a 'second skin' fit akin to test jerseys. The jersey is designed to minimize loose fabric, so that a player cannot be held back when they make a line-break.

The GPS pocket feature (inside the collar) aligns with the idea of the kit being used within a training environment and embraces the professional standard. The neckline is firmly constructed, thick elastic binding makes it tight, especially around the neck and chest. Putting it on and taking it off over the head is a bit of an effort. This helps the athletic wearer against the collisions in contact, with the solid resistance to tears apparent in the piece.

Collar design - the side collars with the single button reinforce both tradition (a collar being present like the old school jerseys) and performance (keeping the structure but minimizing any streamline excess).

This release from Canterbury is a heavily symbolic shirt that leans into identity. The landscape, environment and history of Ireland is being tied to the men's and women's players who pull on the jersey.

The jersey builds on momentum: following the popularity of last year’s kits, particularly the 150th anniversary special edition. For fans, wearing the new Canterbury item means connecting both to the performance expectations of top-level rugby and to the heritage and pride of Irish rugby.

Retailed at €95 for the Pro Jersey to €126 for the Test version through Intersport Elverys, the outstanding quality of this top of the range replica jersey is reflected in the price tag.

The new jersey very successfully hits the brief of combining heritage with high performance. The imagery and campaign help justify the bold design choices (tight fit, elastic neckline, textured badge).

For the casual wearer or fan more interested in comfort, the tightness and effort required may outweigh the symbolic or aesthetic positives. For supporters who want authenticity and are aware of what buying the performance edition entails (tight fit, effort when removing and a €95 tag), it delivers value both in look and feel.