host parameter is null in CommonsHTTPSender

I am using MapPoint 4.5 with Axis 1.3 and CommonsHTTPSender through a proxy.

I am getting "IllegalArgumentException: host parameter is null" which is apparently a known problem in CommonsHTTPSender (also should affect Axis1.2 and possibly prior versions) where the host name is not getting set before invoking HttpConnection. Here is a description from Apache:
[#AXIS-1994] CommonsHTTPSender failing to set host name - ASF JIRA (http://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/AXIS-1994)

I have found no workarounds other than modifying the code in CommonsHTTPSender class. This is a simple mod but I would like to find a more acceptable solution. Has anyone else encountered this and what is the standard workaround?

thanks,
Tom
thomas.rowland@priceline.com

I would still like to know if this is a problem seen by others. However, I have resolved my issue by moving to AXIS2 and using CommonsHTTPTransportSender.