THE poor performance of the Irish rugby team is not playing on the minds of its sponsor, Irish Permanent. But just sometimes it comes to mind. At the announcement of group results for 1996 this week, chief executive Roy Douglas was asked how much Irish Permanent spent on advertising. Quick as a flash, he lobbed the question to finance director Peter Fitzpatrick. Then realising his quick pass he quipped: "If the Irish team could pass that quickly they'd have no trouble.