Tournament organisers have decided to repeat their Friday night experiment after deeming this year’s groundbreaking fixture a major success.

France’s thrilling 21-16 victory over Wales in Paris drew 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 RBS 6 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