England Rugby says it is "optimistic" the women's Premier 15s will have a new sponsor after crisps company Tyrrells ended its deal after three years.

Rugby Football Union chief executive Bill Sweeney told BBC Sport it was a priority to find a league sponsor and indicated the union was already in talks with interested parties.

"We have got a couple of very serious, significant players who want to get involved in women's sport and possibly in women's rugby, so we're optimistic we can make something happen," he said.

There have been concerns across sport that the coronavirus pandemic will have a worse effect on female athletes and their competitions.

This was addressed by Sweeney who reconfirmed the RFU's commitment to its women's programmes.

"We're making good progress on the women's game and need to ensure that it remains a key focus for us and that the women's game is not impacted in any way disproportionately from the rest," he added.

Exeter Chiefs Women's head coach Susie Appleby told BBC Sport she was disappointed that Tyrrells had ended its agreement but credited Barclays' work with football's Women's Super League.

"Football is the biggest example, that we need to be following, almost emulate," she said.

"I'm sure the RFU are working really hard to get another big sponsor involved because that's the way our game is going to go forward, with financial investment."

The RFU, who declared the 2019-2020 season null and void in April, was unable to give any indication of when the new Premier 15 season would be able to start.