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THE SIX NATIONS has finally arrived as the opening round of the competition kicks off this weekend.
Before the action gets underway, we’ve compiled all the important fixture details to help you plan out your viewing schedule for all the games.
Kick-off time: 8.15pm
Venue: Stade de France
TV details: Virgin Media One, coverage starts at 7.30pm
The clash of France and Wales gets the 2025 competition off the mark as one of the tournament favourites welcome Warren Gatland’s side to the Stade de France.
For France, there is plenty of excitement around the return of Antoine Dupont and Romain Ntamack. Dupont missed last year’s tournament due to his Olympic Sevens commitments, while Ntamack has not made a Test appearance since 2023 due to two long-term injuries. With the Toulouse duo back in rotation, France will feel they are strong contenders for the title.
Wales collected the wooden spoon in last year’s tournament and ended their 2024 season with 11 losses in total after continuing that losing run through the summer and Autumn Tests. The 2025 Six Nations could be another difficult campaign for Wales.
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Kick-off time: 2.15pm
Venue: Murrayfield
TV details: RTÉ Two, coverage begins at 1.30pm
Two sides hoping to make breakthroughs meet when the Round 1 action continues on Saturday at Murrayfield. Scotland have been making strides under Gregor Townsend, though injuries to key men Sione Tuipulotu and Scott Cummings could hamper their chances.
The Scots have won the last four Calcutta Cups against England, and fell just short of a victory over France in 2024, but did lose against this weekend’s opponents when they visited Rome last spring.
Italy have also made progress in recent seasons to shake off the tag of annual wooden spoon recipients. They finished fifth last year after picking up wins against Wales as well as Scotland. They also earned a draw against France which gives them a strong base to work off this year.
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Kick-off time: 4.45pm
Venue: Aviva Stadium
TV Details: Virgin Media One, coverage starts at 4pm
Ireland get their bid for a historic Six Nations three-in-a-row underway against the old enemy at the Aviva Stadium.
Revenge will be a big motivating factor for Simon Easterby’s team after England denied them a shot at back-to-back Grand Slams last year with a last-minute drop goal.
The decision to start Sam Prendergast ahead of Jack Crowley will be a major area of focus this weekend while the loss of Tadhg Furlong to injury is certainly a blow in the front row.
England will be without hooker Jamie George due to a hamstring injury but Steve Borthwick has put twin brothers Ben and Tom Curry starting together in the back row in the hope of inspiring a win in Dublin.
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I hope the automatic weapons are better secured than the TVs!
Aren’t they lucky the boys weren’t there when they broke in!!
Surely by going public and disclosing what was taken the Burglars now about the garda involvement in the premises. I hope the gardai now vacate the premises. To use a phrase used in many a film ” position compromised”.
When my house was broken into recently I was told that there was a good chance if I went to balbriggan or fairy house markets I would find my belongings I suggest they do the same see how that goes for ya….
This premises is probably one of many locations the ERU have. No firearms or confidential documents would have been left there, even in a lock up, if it was not going to be supervised. This is just a typical bandwagon story that sells papers and gives people a chance to give out.
3 tv’s were takin and I would be confident in sayin very little if anything else was!!! BOTTOM LINE, it makes a good headline for the papers….
They robbers might get a surprise when they go to use the remote.
Why don’t they take the gardai off shatters door and put them minding premises like this. Get your priorities right Callinan!
They stolen all the toilet seats too.
Even now, they have nothing to go on.
i will give them a good price for an alarm on the gaff might even do it for cash
I really dont understand why the stores werent on a 24 hour guard like the army stores?
It’s not an armoury, it’s a range & training facility. They don’t keep any kit or documents there so there’s no need for a guard on it.
Sure if the burglars now know its the operational headquarters for the guards they will tell any other criminals they know where it is.point being u might as well appeal for witnesses as the cat is out of the bag anyways.no point in not moving if the criminal fraternity know where it is.
If it was used for admin purposes you would hope that no sensitive information was taken. Tv’s aren’t a big deal but confidential files getting into the wrong hands could have major consequences…I wouldn’t want to be on a witness protection program knowing that this can happen so easily
Confidential files can get into anybody’s hands given that Gardai are apparently using their own laptops as they wish.
you mean in here as well
@brian daly, ‘apparently’ they use their own laptops eh? Care to elaborate?
Witness protection Irish style.
Move back to the UK where you have fammily and come home again for weddings or social occasions.Like Steve Collins does in Limerick.
Witness protection anywhere else.
You and your fammily disapper for good under new passports,IDs ,names and backstopped aliases.
You DO NOT ever ,never go back to your old haunts,habits or make contact with your old way of life or friends or kin. Costs lots of money and resources.
So much for security. That place should have been well secured and monitored. Are they telling us that there was no CCTV? That place should have been like Fort Knox – easy to get into, impossible to get out of. No doubt someone is going to get their butt kicked over this.
Why? Do you know what it was used for? What was in it?
Here in US giggling to myself reading this story. My US friends curious to know what’s it about. Too embarrassing to show them
Why is it embarrassing!? The article said it was a facility used by the specialist unit not its headquarters or operational base. It could be a firing range or self defence training area where the televisions were used for playback instruction or monitoring the process! As said before there were no firearms or sensitive documentation stored there and the location was most likely alarmed only with such low Garda numbers a response mightened have arrived in time to prevent the theft. This break-in is no different to any other break-in where its only the fact that the Gardai use it and don’t want attention drawn to it by giving out its location to the national media seeking assistance that makes it unusual! I doubt junkie burglars read the journal every day with their morning methadone so it’s not like they’d be back!
Not good to hear, but the Garda ERU have a number of secretive lock-ups around the country apparently. No firearms or weapons are stored in them, only at Garda Stations. The place will be forensically examined, so there’s a good chance these eejits will be caught!
If this is an april the 1st joke its in bad taste .Its not funny
And a day late..
If the public don’t know the location of the facility, the only way they can provide information is to have been one of the people who took part in a burglary between Sunday night and yesterday morning, where three flat-screen TVs were taken, somewhere within Ireland.
So in affect are the Gardaí asking the people who took part to hand themselves in?
Theyre not asking for the publics assistance
g why
Ah shur look, harmless auld craic in fairness.
slow news day was it journal.ie
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