The Six Nations is set to unveil HSBC as the championship’s new title sponsor, the Guardian understands. HSBC, which sponsored the 2009 and 2013 British & Irish Lions tours of South Africa and Australia respectively, is in line to replace NatWest after just one year.

NatWest was parachuted in for the 2018 Six Nations only after the organisers were forced into an embarrassing climbdown.

Owen Farrell is an England certainty. But where he plays is less clear Read more

Following the 2017 championship, Six Nations Rugby cut ties with RBS after 14 years, rejecting the bank’s bid to extend its deal because it felt the rights were worth £100m over six years. But with external factors such as Brexit creating uncertainty in the sponsorship market, no one was willing to pay such a price. That forced the organisers into giving NatWest, an RBS subsidiary, a cut-price one-year deal for 2018, worth a reported £11m – considerably less than RBS’s previous offer to extend.

Amid such upheaval, the Six Nations has undergone considerable overhaul with the resignation of John Feehan as chief executive in April. Feehan, who has now been replaced by Benjamin Morel, had been bullish over achieving a £100m deal and said in January 2017: “We want a sponsor who is actively engaged not just in Britain, but around the world. We see potential in markets like the USA. We want a brand to align with that.”

It is believed HSBC – which also sponsors the World Sevens Series – expressed an interest in partnering the Six Nations last year but were keen on the combined rights for the championship and the Lions. It remains to be seen if the Six Nations deal will lead to an agreement with the Lions – Standard Life was the title sponsor for the 2017 New Zealand tour.

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Danny Cipriani, meanwhile, will learn this week if his slim chances of representing England this autumn are over following his sending off during Gloucester’s Champions Cup defeat by Munster on Saturday.

Cipriani, who was left out of England’s squad last Thursday, received a red card for a high tackle and is set for a disciplinary hearing this week. If found guilty he can expect to be facing a six-week ban which would make him unavailable if injury were to strike down Owen Farrell or George Ford. He would hope that would be reduced on mitigation but his Rugby Football Union charge after his arrest in August is likely to count against him.