March date for France v Ireland confirmed

Contrary to suggestions that it would be delayed until September, the rescheduled France v Ireland match will now take place at the Stade de France in Paris on Sunday 4 March at 3pm (Irish time).

The date was confirmed by the Six Nations today after a second bout of lengthy discussions following a meeting yesterday when they came to what must have been a terribly difficult decision not to play it this coming weekend.

It had been feared that the game would be delayed until September after the French clubs kicked up a bit of a fuss, but that outcome never seemed likely as it would have come almost six months after every other team had finished the tournament and a summer tour and a pre-season would have taken place in between.

The new date means that both Ireland and France will have to play on four weekends in succession, with the game being sandwiched in between meetings with Italy on 25 February and Scotland on 10 March, both of which, thankfully for Ireland, will be held at the Aviva Stadium.

Supporters who travelled to the game that was farcically called off only minutes before kick-off will be able to use tickets for that game once again, while thousands of others who can’t afford to make the trip back to one of the most expensive cities in Europe will have the price of their ticket refunded.