THE SUN blessed insurance group RSA’s big day out in Clontarf, Dublin last week as the Irish cricket team hosted world champions Australia in a one-day international.

A full house of 4,500 turned out as Ireland gave Australia a good rattle before eventually coming up short, with the live TV coverage offering RSA plenty of exposure for its financial outlay.

RSA used the match to entertain a large group of brokers and other clients. Over lunch, the company’s Irish boss, Philip Smith, recalled how the sponsorship deal almost marked his Waterloo with the global insurance group a couple of years ago.

Ireland were due to play a home match at Clontarf against Nottinghamshire and Smith had agreed in principle for RSA to sponsor the team, then an amateur outfit used to playing in front of one man and his dog.

Figuring it would be a low-key affair, Smith gave the green light for the new RSA brand – which had yet to be unveiled by the insurer’s top brass to either customers or staff – to be printed on the Irish shirts.

He arrived at the ground only to discover that Sky were broadcasting the game live on television, with cameras literally everywhere.

“I turned to my wife and said ‘Oh f**k’,” Smith told guests last week. “I realised I was just about to launch the RSA brand worldwide through a sponsorship deal that I had no approval for.”

Happily for Smith, his cricket-mad boss let it slide. The sponsorship, which runs until 2012, has since paid a good premium to both RSA and Irish cricket, which is now mixing it with the big boys.