RUGBY: For all its teething problems off the pitch the inaugural Celtic League ultimately triumphed on the pitch, culminating in an unexpected attendance of almost 30,000 for the Lansdowne Road final between Leinster and Munster which was also watched by an estimated TV audience of 2.1 million in total. Alas though, some of the initial problems remain and for the second year running the competition will be without a main sponsor.

The Celtic League chairman Bill Watson confirmed as much yesterday, when admitting: "We don't have a title sponsor and we're not prepared to take partners on board without a title sponsor."

It seems curious, to say the least, that despite assurances of a sponsor coming on board either before the start or during the knockout stages last season, there is still no sign of one now. However, despite the relative success of the inaugural event, new stumbling blocks have emerged, primarily the ongoing negotiations for a new title sponsor of the Six Nations.

"It's unfortunate, because there's been a lot of interest, but a number of companies are vying for the Six Nations and that's not helping us," said Watson, who reckons that some of those companies who won't secure the Six Nations might then turn their attentions to the Celtic League.

"Therefore I'm not hopeful of getting a title sponsor at this stage."

Of course, the Celtic League has yet to carve itself in stone on the seasonal itinerary, and question marks hang over the event next season because of the timing of the World Cup in Australia in October and November. Thus it is unclear what shape or timing the competition might have next season, or whether it will actually be postponed for a year.

Watson maintains the latter scenario is highly unlikely, and adds that "we have found a window of time in next season's schedules which we feel can make it work".

Hence, the awkward timing of the World Cup in the early stages of the season (from a European perspective) might not necessarily prevent a title sponsor agreeing to at least a two-year deal.

Clearly, however, this isn't helpful and not just the Celtic unions will be hopeful such a fixture clash does not happen again.

Nor, though organisers would be reluctant to admit it, does the somewhat patchy television coverage of the Celtic League make it as attractive as it could be.

In Ireland there is only coverage on TG4, while in Scotland there are no live matches and only limited highlights coverage, though in Wales the joint coverage between BBC Wales and S4C (which entails two live matches and two magazine programmes each week) reaches up to 400,000 viewers per weekend.

All in all, the Celtic unions still seem to lack a cohesive approach to the competition and cannot afford to throw huge resources at it. Watson rejects the notion that one union (the IRFU) is more reluctant to an expansion of the Celtic League (doubling up to home and away group matches) and maintains there is "a consensus across the three unions as to how the Celtic League can be expanded". Even so, in this regard the three partners don't seem to be pulling in the same direction.

Similarly, the hoped-for trimming down of the competition to a Celtic Super 12 would entail the IRFU, say, jettisoning Connacht or the Welsh agreeing to a reduction from seven clubs to six or five. An unattractive proposition to both.

It's also believed that whereas the Scots and the Irish are keen for a Super 12-type bonus-points scoring system to be introduced this season, the Welsh are not. Watson admitted this was "not finally determined".

Likewise, it seems extraordinary that a definitive fixture list for a competition which is only 10 days away has not been produced, though apparently this is imminent. The delay was in part a result of the ongoing failure to locate a title sponsor as it had been hoped to announce both simultaneously.