diff --git a/django/core/management/__init__.py b/django/core/management/__init__.py
index 4b40009e76..151b94ec45 100644
--- a/django/core/management/__init__.py
+++ b/django/core/management/__init__.py
@@ -323,7 +323,7 @@ def setup_environ(settings_mod, original_settings_path=None):
     else:
         os.environ['DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE'] = '%s.%s' % (project_name, settings_name)
 
-    # Import the project module. We add the parent directory to PYTHONPATH to 
+    # Import the project module. We add the parent directory to PYTHONPATH to
     # avoid some of the path errors new users can have.
     sys.path.append(os.path.join(project_directory, os.pardir))
     project_module = import_module(project_name)
diff --git a/django/template/defaulttags.py b/django/template/defaulttags.py
index c08ecc435c..c375b5bb1e 100644
--- a/django/template/defaulttags.py
+++ b/django/template/defaulttags.py
@@ -370,14 +370,21 @@ class URLNode(Node):
         url = ''
         try:
             url = reverse(self.view_name, args=args, kwargs=kwargs)
-        except NoReverseMatch:
-            project_name = settings.SETTINGS_MODULE.split('.')[0]
-            try:
-                url = reverse(project_name + '.' + self.view_name,
+        except NoReverseMatch, e:
+            if settings.SETTINGS_MODULE:
+                project_name = settings.SETTINGS_MODULE.split('.')[0]
+                try:
+                    url = reverse(project_name + '.' + self.view_name,
                               args=args, kwargs=kwargs)
-            except NoReverseMatch:
+                except NoReverseMatch:
+                    if self.asvar is None:
+                        # Re-raise the original exception, not the one with
+                        # the path relative to the project. This makes a 
+                        # better error message.
+                        raise e
+            else:
                 if self.asvar is None:
-                    raise
+                    raise e
 
         if self.asvar:
             context[self.asvar] = url
diff --git a/tests/regressiontests/templates/tests.py b/tests/regressiontests/templates/tests.py
index 042aba2f65..cdd499ec83 100644
--- a/tests/regressiontests/templates/tests.py
+++ b/tests/regressiontests/templates/tests.py
@@ -153,6 +153,21 @@ class Templates(unittest.TestCase):
         split = token.split_contents()
         self.assertEqual(split, ["sometag", '_("Page not found")', 'value|yesno:_("yes,no")'])
 
+    def test_url_reverse_no_settings_module(self):
+        #Regression test for #9005
+        from django.template import Template, Context, TemplateSyntaxError
+        old_settings_module = settings.SETTINGS_MODULE
+        settings.SETTINGS_MODULE = None
+        t = Template('{% url will_not_match %}')
+        c = Context()
+        try:
+            rendered = t.render(c)
+        except TemplateSyntaxError, e:
+            #Assert that we are getting the template syntax error and not the
+            #string encoding error.
+            self.assertEquals(e.message, "Caught an exception while rendering: Reverse for 'will_not_match' with arguments '()' and keyword arguments '{}' not found.")
+        settings.SETTINGS_MODULE = old_settings_module
+
     def test_templates(self):
         template_tests = self.get_template_tests()
         filter_tests = filters.get_filter_tests()