diff --git a/org.springframework.web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/util/UriTemplate.java b/org.springframework.web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/util/UriTemplate.java
index b997a657c5..a7605e710c 100644
--- a/org.springframework.web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/util/UriTemplate.java
+++ b/org.springframework.web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/util/UriTemplate.java
@@ -125,8 +125,9 @@ public class UriTemplate {
 		StringBuffer buffer = new StringBuffer();
 		int i = 0;
 		while (matcher.find()) {
-			String uriVariable = uriVariableValues[i++].toString();
-			matcher.appendReplacement(buffer, Matcher.quoteReplacement(uriVariable));
+			Object uriVariable = uriVariableValues[i++];
+			String replacement = Matcher.quoteReplacement(uriVariable != null ? uriVariable.toString() : "");
+			matcher.appendReplacement(buffer, replacement);
 		}
 		matcher.appendTail(buffer);
 		return encodeUri(buffer.toString());
diff --git a/org.springframework.web/src/test/java/org/springframework/web/client/RestTemplateTests.java b/org.springframework.web/src/test/java/org/springframework/web/client/RestTemplateTests.java
index 0f83e8b8e2..4bdf011557 100644
--- a/org.springframework.web/src/test/java/org/springframework/web/client/RestTemplateTests.java
+++ b/org.springframework.web/src/test/java/org/springframework/web/client/RestTemplateTests.java
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import java.io.IOException;
 import java.net.URI;
 import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.EnumSet;
+import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Set;
 
@@ -82,6 +83,21 @@ public class RestTemplateTests {
 
 		verifyMocks();
 	}
+	
+	@Test
+	public void varArgsNullTemplateVariable() throws Exception {
+		expect(requestFactory.createRequest(new URI("http://example.com/-foo"), HttpMethod.GET))
+				.andReturn(request);
+		expect(request.execute()).andReturn(response);
+		expect(errorHandler.hasError(response)).andReturn(false);
+		response.close();
+
+		replayMocks();
+
+		template.execute("http://example.com/{first}-{last}", HttpMethod.GET, null, null, null, "foo");
+
+		verifyMocks();
+	}
 
 	@Test
 	public void mapTemplateVariables() throws Exception {
@@ -99,6 +115,24 @@ public class RestTemplateTests {
 		verifyMocks();
 	}
 
+	@Test
+	public void mapNullTemplateVariable() throws Exception {
+		expect(requestFactory.createRequest(new URI("http://example.com/-foo"), HttpMethod.GET))
+				.andReturn(request);
+		expect(request.execute()).andReturn(response);
+		expect(errorHandler.hasError(response)).andReturn(false);
+		response.close();
+
+		replayMocks();
+
+		Map<String, String> vars = new HashMap<String, String>(2);
+		vars.put("first", null);
+		vars.put("last", "foo");
+		template.execute("http://example.com/{first}-{last}", HttpMethod.GET, null, null, vars);
+
+		verifyMocks();
+	}
+
 	@Test
 	public void errorHandling() throws Exception {
 		expect(requestFactory.createRequest(new URI("http://example.com"), HttpMethod.GET)).andReturn(request);