Royal Bank of Scotland has emerged as the potential successor to Lloyds TSB as sponsor of the Six Nations Championship for the next three seasons. A deal worth around £6m is expected to be ratified by the end of the week.

The bank, which owns NatWest, will come on board after the Six Nations committee dropped its original asking price of £10m a year.

The money will not be divided equally among the six competing countries because the overall pot contains a merit element, but the cash will be particularly welcome in Italy and at the Welsh Rugby Union which is trying to cut its debt of more than £50m.

Leeds Tykes yesterday signed the Canada and Worcester wing Winston Stanley for the rest of the season after learning that George Harder would be out until the new year with a chest injury while Cardiff reported their first profit in the professional era: they made £20,062 in the year to May 31 2002, overturning a loss of more than £729,000.