Six Nations Friday night fixture retained

The two sides met in paris on a Friday in this year's tournament with France's thrilling 21-16 victory drawing the largest television audience of the championship in the host country and the second highest average audience of all 15 games in the tournament.

Next season's Friday night game is scheduled for round three of the competition on February 26.

The following day, Italy will host Scotland and Ireland play England in back-to-back fixtures.

Grand Slam champions Ireland open the 2010 Six Nations and the defence of their title against Italy in Dublin on February 6.

The tournament will climax in another 'Super Saturday', with Wales hosting Italy, Ireland against Scotland and England travelling to France for an evening kick-off.

RBS 6 Nations Championship 2010 fixture schedule (all times GMT):

Round One:

Saturday 6th February

14:30 - Ireland v Italy

17:00 - England v Wales

Sunday 7th February

15:00 - Scotland v France

Round Two:

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

Round Three:

Friday 26th February

20:00 - Wales v France

Saturday 27th February

13:30 (14:30 local) - Italy v Scotland

16:00 - England v Ireland

Round Four:

Saturday 13th March

14:30 - Ireland v Wales

17:00 - Scotland v England

Sunday 14th March

14:30 (15.30 local) - France v Italy

Round Five:

Saturday 20th March

14:30 - Wales v Italy

17:00 - Ireland v Scotland

19:45 (20:45 local) - France v England