Overview
- The championship runs from 5 February to 14 March, with matches through 22 February, a pause, and play resuming on 6 March before the finale on 14 March.
- France will host Ireland in Paris to launch the tournament on Thursday 5 February at 8:10pm GMT at the Stade de France.
- The traditional rest week has been removed, compressing the event into seven weeks with standard kick-off windows of 2:10pm, 4:40pm and 8:10pm on Saturdays and 3:10pm on Sundays (GMT).
- UK broadcast rights are free-to-air under a new split between ITV and the BBC, with ITV showing 10 fixtures including all England matches and the BBC airing five.
- A full 15-match schedule with dates, times and venues is published, featuring games in Paris, Dublin, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Rome.