Six Nations Championship
2010 Six Nations schedule revealed
Scrum.com
April 2, 2009
Ireland skipper Brian O'Driscoll lifts the Six Nations Championship trophy, Wales v Ireland, Six Nations Championship, Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, Wales, March 21, 2009
Ireland kick off their title defence against Italy © Getty Images
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The Six Nations council has announced the fixtures for the 2010 Six Nations, with Ireland kicking off their title defence at home against Italy on Saturday February 6.

The popularity of this season's first Friday night game with TV viewers, where France ended Wales' Grand Slam hopes in Paris, has meant that the fixture will be reversed at the Millennium Stadium this season, on Friday February 26.

In a repeat of two seasons ago, England kick-off their tournament with the visit of Warren Gatland's Wales to Twickenham, while France travel to face Scotland at Murrayfield.

Welsh Rugby Union chairman David Pickering is pleased to see the Friday night game return, citing both economic and rugby reasons for his excitement.

"We are starting to see genuine reasons for saying the experiment is a successful one," said Pickering. "The match in Paris last year generated the biggest television audience for a game in France at an average audience of 5.9million and television audiences throughout the UK, Ireland and Italy were the second largest of all the fifteen tournament games at 11million.

"We had a sell-out Stade de France crowd, a tremendous atmosphere and produced one of the best matches of the tournament for the neutral. In Wales we would obviously like to reverse the result next year but we are very much looking forward to what should be a great night out in Cardiff for the fans, a bumper TV audience and a magnificent atmosphere for the players within the confines of the Millennium Stadium."

Six Nations 2010

Week 1
Saturday 6th February - 14:30 - Ireland v Italy 17:00 - England v Wales
Sunday 7th February 15:00 - Scotland v France

Week 2
Saturday 13th February - 14:00 - Wales v Scotland, 16:30 (17:30 local) - France v Ireland
Sunday 14th February - 14.30 (15:30 local) - Italy v England

Week 3
20/21 February - Rest Weekend

Week 4
Friday 26th February - 20:00 - Wales v France
Saturday 27th February - 13:30 (14:30 local) - Italy v Scotland 16:00 - England v Ireland

Week 5
6/7 March - Rest Weekend

Week 6
Saturday 13th March - 14:30 - Ireland v Wales 17:00 - Scotland v England
Sunday 14th March - 14:30 (15.30 local) - France v Italy

Week 7
Saturday 20th March - 14:30 - Wales v Italy 17:00 - Ireland v Scotland 19:45 (20:45 local) - France v England

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