[Photo Credit: BBC Sports]
Ireland will travel to defending champions France in the first-ever Thursday night fixture in Six Nations’ history when the 2026 tournament begins next February.
Ireland and France have won the past four titles between them and their blockbuster encounter has been brought forward to avoid a clash with the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Milan the following day.
The shift is designed to maximise audiences in France.
The finale of last year’s tournament, when France beat Scotland to secure the title, returned record Six Nations audiences in France with 9.5m people watching live.
This year’s tournament recorded a 6.3% increase in audience in domestic markets overall.
It has also been confirmed there will be only one rest weekend, rather than the previous two, in the 2026 tournament.
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