Half a year after Philips announced it was pulling its support for our national team, a replacement has yet to be signed.

One of Philips’ rivals tells NBR the Rugby Union is still shopping the sponsorship around but finding no takers.

A well-placed insider at one of Philips’ consumer electronics rivals says his company was approached to fill the national team’s sponsor void. But with the recession, it simply did not have the necessary funds on hand: “They [The Rugby Union] are asking everyone but nobody’s interested.”