Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Ireland face France in the championship opener. Ben Brady/INPHO

Ireland to face France in 2026 Six Nations opener (and it's on a Thursday)

There will be only one fallow week in next year’s championship.

IRELAND WILL FACE defending champions France on Thursday 5 February in the opening game of the 2026 Six Nations.

The venue for the game in France has yet to be confirmed.

Next year’s championship will involve a move to just one fallow week, rather than the usual two.

Andy Farrell’s Ireland will host Italy in Dublin on the second weekend of the Six Nations before visiting England in round three.

The single fallow weekend follows that trip to London, with Ireland then hosting Wales and Scotland at the Aviva Stadium in the closing two rounds of the championship. The game against Wales will take place on the evening of Friday 6 March.

Ireland play Scotland first on the final weekend’s ‘Super Saturday,’ with France hosting England in the closing game of the championship.

Ireland’s opening fixture being on a Thursday night is partly due to the 2026 Winter Olympics opening ceremony taking place the following evening in Italy. Six Nations organisers and broadcasters were keen to give the championship’s first fixture as much exposure as possible, meaning a shift to Thursday. 

Farrell’s men, who won the Six Nations in 2023 and 2024, will look to land a big opening blow as they take on Fabien Galthié’s reigning champions.

With only one fallow week involved from now on, the run of three Six Nations games in three consecutive weeks will be a new challenge for Ireland and the other five teams.

2026 Six Nations fixtures:

All times GMT

Round 1

  • France v Ireland, Thursday 5 February, 8.10pm, TBC
  • Italy v Scotland, Saturday 7 February, 2.10pm, Stadio Olimpico
  • England v Wales, Saturday 7 February, 4.40pm, Allianz Stadium

Round 2

  • Ireland v Italy, Saturday 14 February, 2.10pm, Aviva Stadium
  • Scotland v England, Saturday 14 February, 4.40pm, Murrayfield
  • Wales v France, Sunday 15 February, 3.10pm, Principality Stadium

Round 3

  • England v Ireland, Saturday 21 February, 2.10pm, Allianz Stadium
  • Wales v Scotland, Saturday 21 February, 4.40pm, Principality Stadium
  • France v Italy, Sunday 22 February, 3.10pm, TBC

Round 4

  • Ireland v Wales, Friday 6 March, 14 Feb, 8.10pm, Aviva Stadium
  • Scotland v France, Saturday 7 March, 2.10pm, Murrayfield
  • Italy v England, Saturday 7 March, 4.40pm, Stadio Olimpico

Round 5

  • Ireland v Scotland, Saturday 14 March, 2.10pm, Aviva Stadium
  • Wales v Italy, Saturday 14 March, 4.40pm, Principality Stadium
  • France v England, Saturday 14 March, 8.10pm, TBC

Written by Murray Kinsella and originally published on The 42 whose award-winning team produces original content that you won’t find anywhere else: on GAA, League of Ireland, women’s sport and boxing, as well as our game-changing rugby coverage, all with an Irish eye. Subscribe here.

Author
View 11 comments
Close
11 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy here before taking part.
Leave a Comment
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tarraing Mo Liathróidí
    Favourite Tarraing Mo Liathróidí
    Report
    May 5th 2021, 2:29 PM

    So now they realise that people will travel north for cheap booze if they put up the prices here, who would have ever guessed that lads..

    499
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Mill Miller
    Favourite Mill Miller
    Report
    May 5th 2021, 2:43 PM

    @Tarraing Mo Liathróidí: I won’t travel ,, just the money I give to charity ,, that will be cut ,, ..what a government ,,,

    86
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Nameo Maximus
    Favourite Nameo Maximus
    Report
    May 5th 2021, 2:47 PM

    @Mill Miller: It’ll likely be the more expensive healthy stuff getting the chop for me, bottle of vino vs salad is just a no brainer!

    61
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute John Fairclough
    Favourite John Fairclough
    Report
    May 5th 2021, 2:43 PM

    They have made owning a home so expensive, no one can afford it. Now they want to do the same with alcohol.

    317
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Martin Galvin
    Favourite Martin Galvin
    Report
    May 5th 2021, 7:46 PM

    @John Fairclough: Yeah, we’ll soon have to rent a bottle of Jameson’s for a few swigs …..

    30
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute JillyBean
    Favourite JillyBean
    Report
    May 5th 2021, 2:31 PM

    And the Ni executive will laugh back at them

    358
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute ed w
    Favourite ed w
    Report
    May 5th 2021, 2:54 PM

    @JillyBean: I thought ni executive already had a plan to bring this in

    13
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Nigel o'Neill
    Favourite Nigel o'Neill
    Report
    May 5th 2021, 2:55 PM

    @JillyBean: hopefully and they should

    22
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute mar
    Favourite mar
    Report
    May 5th 2021, 2:47 PM

    Varadkar said the consequences of this measure “should result in around 200 fewer alcohol-related deaths, and 6,000 fewer hospital admissions per year”. ‘

    Absolute m0r0ns. I’m sure the booze curtains that supermarkets had to install have already saved thousands of lives as well. ffs

    261
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Mark
    Favourite Mark
    Report
    May 5th 2021, 2:36 PM

    Newry will be booming again, car loads of gargle coming back

    258
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute The Risen
    Favourite The Risen
    Report
    May 5th 2021, 3:00 PM

    Another tax on the poor, as usual. I wouldn’t imagine too many of Leos and Paschals buddys spend less than 7 quid on a bottle of wine. All this measure will do is leave less disposable income in the pockets of families where there is alcohol dependency.

    252
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Iblis
    Favourite Iblis
    Report
    May 5th 2021, 2:35 PM

    The equivalent of the US telling Canada how to price things. I hope you are sent packing. G085h1t35

    289
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Adam Murphy
    Favourite Adam Murphy
    Report
    May 5th 2021, 3:31 PM

    Stephen Donnelly doesn’t think people will travel to NI to buy cheap vodka, because they’d be spending more on petrol than the €7 they’d save on the Vodka
    Obviously the concept of buying more than one thing at a time is alien to him…

    206
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Honeybee
    Favourite Honeybee
    Report
    May 5th 2021, 2:31 PM

    Lets hope the northern executive ignore them.

    284
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Nigel o'Neill
    Favourite Nigel o'Neill
    Report
    May 5th 2021, 2:55 PM

    Lol.. Let’s put pressure on another jurisdiction to change its laws to match and suit us… Couldn’t make it up

    180
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Peadár Ó'Cearnacháin
    Favourite Peadár Ó'Cearnacháin
    Report
    May 5th 2021, 3:23 PM

    This is a new tax on mere mortals that want to stay at home and not go to a pub when they reopen and enjoy a beer or glass of wine in their own homes. Irish ministers giving a knee up to the publicians….. This is nothing to do with health….its all about lost revenue.

    169
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Rab C Nesbitt
    Favourite Rab C Nesbitt
    Report
    May 5th 2021, 2:49 PM

    The penny just dropped with Egghead that the horse has bolted…….over the border.
    Talk about a cart before the horse legislation. Incompetence of the highest order

    175
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute John Mc Donagh
    Favourite John Mc Donagh
    Report
    May 5th 2021, 2:36 PM

    Goobshiites, not content with spoiling the fun in their own patch, they want to spoil it
    in somebody else’s as well

    248
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute SprintFitz
    Favourite SprintFitz
    Report
    May 5th 2021, 3:07 PM

    That whole business of the government, and not the market setting the prices of things doesn’t seem legal to me.

    108
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Earth Traveller
    Favourite Earth Traveller
    Report
    May 5th 2021, 4:33 PM

    @SprintFitz: It’s called communism. I remember it from the 1980s in Eastern Europe. It didn’t work well there either.

    60
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute On the right side
    Favourite On the right side
    Report
    May 5th 2021, 8:03 PM

    @Earth Traveller:

    Socialism: You have 2 cows, give 1 cow to your neighbour

    Communism: You have 2 cows, give both cows to the government and they might give you some milk

    Fascism: You have 2 cows, give all the milk to the government and the government sells it

    Capitalism: You have 2 cows, sell 1 cow and buy a bull

    Anarchism: You have 2 cows, keep both cows, shoot the government and steal a cow.

    18
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Mark
    Favourite Mark
    Report
    May 5th 2021, 2:35 PM

    Newry will be booming again, car loads of gargle

    112
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tony Humphreys
    Favourite Tony Humphreys
    Report
    May 5th 2021, 3:00 PM

    All those fireworks warehouses on the border will now stock booze too!

    104
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Fiona Fitzgerald
    Favourite Fiona Fitzgerald
    Report
    May 5th 2021, 3:26 PM

    Sure what could possibly go wrong?

    41
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute paul mccoy
    Favourite paul mccoy
    Report
    May 5th 2021, 3:16 PM

    They have some neck asking the northern executive to do the same . If I were them I’d tell them in no uncertain terms to Fock off.

    134
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Geoff Bateman
    Favourite Geoff Bateman
    Report
    May 5th 2021, 3:43 PM

    Nah, just another tax to get more money in for the massive amount they have borrowed already

    65
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Earth Traveller
    Favourite Earth Traveller
    Report
    May 5th 2021, 4:35 PM

    @Geoff Bateman: It’s not tax. The extra money goes into the pockets of those who sell alcohol. Why are we not hearing how this will destroy rural Ireland from the usual sources?

    26
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Lynne
    Favourite Lynne
    Report
    May 5th 2021, 4:27 PM

    The thing is, even now, before this tax hike is introduced, there are better deals to be had on alcohol by travelling to NI.
    It’ll get worse when this is introduced and once people get used to the journey, it’ll be commonplace to go.

    55
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Cookie
    Favourite Cookie
    Report
    May 5th 2021, 4:11 PM

    There’s little good about the DUP but hopefully they will make a big noise about refusing to cooperate on this.

    53
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Cookie
    Favourite Cookie
    Report
    May 5th 2021, 4:59 PM

    Is alcohol to be banned in Dail Eireann?

    55
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute IP.Man
    Favourite IP.Man
    Report
    May 5th 2021, 3:14 PM

    Why ministers are not put more pressure on their money pockets to prevent more tax money from flooding into it. They acting like priests, restriction prohibitions, taking away individuality…

    54
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Patrick Daly
    Favourite Patrick Daly
    Report
    May 5th 2021, 5:00 PM

    Turning into a nanny state. And by the way anyone know the address of the place selling pints for €1.93?

    51
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Brian Haines
    Favourite Brian Haines
    Report
    May 5th 2021, 3:39 PM

    ULSTER SAYS NO !

    66
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Life in no motion
    Favourite Life in no motion
    Report
    May 5th 2021, 6:05 PM

    I don’t remember €22.09 bottles being sold anywhere!

    Ireland is the 2nd dearest in the EU. How does that equate to having “cheap” alcohol? Why is this not a tax so the money is put into the exchequer? What will happen once the gap between cheap and premium brands is narrowed and the inevitable price increase happens?

    Do people honestly think an alcoholic will skip his fix because it costs more? Other things will be dropped to accommodate

    Why do I deserve a price increase because I want 4 cans on a Friday night? Leo said he’d look after those who get up early. I guess anyone who drinks won’t be getting up early after a few cans so….

    This has AAI (tax payer funded lobby group) and VFI/LVA allllllll over it

    To put the icing on the cake, alcohol consumption is DOWN 6.5% on last year

    Fupping baxtards

    48
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jonathan
    Favourite Jonathan
    Report
    May 5th 2021, 4:06 PM

    We’re a joke

    61
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Seamus
    Favourite Seamus
    Report
    May 5th 2021, 3:17 PM

    So they don’t want to tax it. Then how is the price going up from 13 to 20 for a nagan of vodka? Is the offy owners make 7 extra quid.?

    41
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Divad Nayr
    Favourite Divad Nayr
    Report
    May 5th 2021, 3:09 PM

    I hope they tell him to f off

    69
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Liam O Connor
    Favourite Liam O Connor
    Report
    May 5th 2021, 4:53 PM

    Another co##upt act by a co##upt government being dictated to by Sir Tony!

    44
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Peter Connolly
    Favourite Peter Connolly
    Report
    May 5th 2021, 5:21 PM

    Not happy interfering with our market they are trying to dictate the north’s as well

    37
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute The Firestarter
    Favourite The Firestarter
    Report
    May 5th 2021, 6:01 PM

    The funny thing is that they try to pretend that it’s because they are so concerned about our drinking habits, when in reality it’s because the sale of alcohol is way down, and they need to recoup their losses somehow.

    33
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Davey Ohanlon
    Favourite Davey Ohanlon
    Report
    May 5th 2021, 5:39 PM

    “What we will be doing is putting pressure on the Northern Ireland Executive and on the parties in Northern Ireland to follow suit”

    And how exactly are they going to put them under “pressure?

    25
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Barry Lynch
    Favourite Barry Lynch
    Report
    May 5th 2021, 5:14 PM

    Ulster says NO

    21
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Seanboy
    Favourite Seanboy
    Report
    May 5th 2021, 6:19 PM

    This is the reward for the vintners association. Obey the lock down rules and we’ll force the plebs back into the pubs you could see this coming a mile away

    21
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ciaran Maher
    Favourite Ciaran Maher
    Report
    May 5th 2021, 8:39 PM

    If the government is really so concerned about alcohol abuse in this country, then they should remove the dail bar and lead by example.
    No point in pontificating about alcohol when they have a bar in their workplace.

    19
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Alan Wilson
    Favourite Alan Wilson
    Report
    May 5th 2021, 5:04 PM

    The DUP listening to southern politicians

    17
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Christy Mc Carthy
    Favourite Christy Mc Carthy
    Report
    May 5th 2021, 5:15 PM

    I will be brewing my own as soon as the equipment is back online as it’s sold out everywhere

    16
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dave
    Favourite Dave
    Report
    May 5th 2021, 5:17 PM

    @Christy Mc Carthy: 100% I have some equipment to get myself started but looking to go to all grain soon enough, i will buy form Amazon… Happy Brewing !

    18
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dean Cinnsealach
    Favourite Dean Cinnsealach
    Report
    May 5th 2021, 5:16 PM

    Ulster says NO

    11
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Stephen Campbell
    Favourite Stephen Campbell
    Report
    May 6th 2021, 12:02 AM

    sugar tax, VRT, NOX tax on vehicles, VAT on tax, high excise on home heating oil, insurance on levies, high insurance polices because of the inflated value due to tax, loaded premiums for not having health insurance your entire life, terrible access to public health service, high salary taxation etc etc etc and now 58% increase on a can of beer…

    “relieve pressure on the health service” by expecting everyone to be a cabbage… if you have any money left over from all the above, good luck have any for hobbies or interests you can enjoy to feel alive.. depressing..

    11
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Noel Tate
    Favourite Noel Tate
    Report
    May 5th 2021, 7:57 PM

    This is a handy calculator for working out the cost after MUP comes in…

    Example: A bottle of Miller will cost 1.23 min and so a case of 24 will cost over 29. Big difference for the €18-€20 you can pick them up for now.

    http://www.irishwinereviews.ie/minimum-unit-pricing-calculator

    8
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Nigel Barlow
    Favourite Nigel Barlow
    Report
    May 6th 2021, 12:37 AM

    @Noel Tate: good news. After putting in some data my fave double ipa from McGargles could be cheaper! It won’t be though I bet.

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Alan Wilson
    Favourite Alan Wilson
    Report
    May 5th 2021, 5:04 PM

    The DUP listening to southern politicians

    8
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Anthony Clark
    Favourite Anthony Clark
    Report
    May 6th 2021, 12:28 AM

    so.. from Tesco…
    Nikita Imperial Vodka 70Cl = €12.99
    Absolut Swedish Vodka 70Cl = €20

    Will Tesco bump both up 8 euros – because who would buy the cheap stuff if they are priced the same new price of €20.71?

    By the way – should be Metric Vodka not Imperial as sold in “cl” lol.

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Paul Cunningham
    Favourite Paul Cunningham
    Report
    May 6th 2021, 6:44 AM

    Implementing an unpopular measure that benefits noone? “Hey, lets make sure that the North is zero craic as well!” Yeah not going to go down well Lads, Remember when they put pressure on us to do something and we rioted?!

    4
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.

Leave a commentcancel

 
JournalTv
News in 60 seconds