Six Nations championship organisers have been boosted by a four-year extension to the tournament's sponsorship deal with the troubled Royal Bank of Scotland.

The deal, which will be officially announced at next week's launch of the 2009 Six Nations, comes despite the Royal Bank of Scotland this week revealing a £28 billion-(€28.9 million) loss, the biggest in British corporate history.

"We have been in discussion with the Six Nations Committee about the renewal of the title sponsorship and agreed to extend this through to 2013," an RBS spokesman said today.

"The RBS Six Nations sponsorship has been selected to meet very specific business objectives within the six competing nations."