The Six Nations 2012 fixtures have finally been confirmed, thanks to ScrumQueens, with the tournament kicking off on Friday, 3rd February, when Ireland take on Wales at home.

There will be no fixtures at Lansdowne Road (or Aviva, if you insist). England get to play at least one game at Twickenham, and Wales at least one game at the Millennium Stadium.

I hope to be able to cheer the team on, but it’s curious: All of Ireland’s home fixtures take place on a Friday, while every men’s game will all take place on a Saturday or a Sunday (Fridays having been ditched), so there would be no risk of fixtures clashing.

Although the Ashbourne AFC grounds have, as ScrumQueens put it, served Ireland well, all of the women’s and men’s games could be accommodated at Lansdowne Road.

Update

The Fingal Independent reports on the recent Fingal Sports Star Of The Year for 2011 and spoke with Ireland’s most capped rugby player, Lynne Cantwell. Her thoughts on the evening:

That night it was really, really special to be there with Brian O’Driscoll and Sean O’Brien, and to schmooze with some of the big guns in the IRFU. [...] It was good to be able to talk to them one-to-one about playing in Lansdowne Road. There’s no reason why we can’t play in these stadiums and hopefully we will.

Hear hear!

/ Update

Notable also is that today – less than a month before the tournament begins – is the first time that all of the 6 Nations 2012 women’s fixtures have been announced, while as far back as January 2011, the men’s fixtures have been known for both 2012 and 2013.

ScrumQueens has also reported the concerns of coach, Philip Doyle, over Ireland’s lack of test games in advance of the 6 Nations tournament and his fears that the team will have to play catch-up by comparison with their competitors.

Surely something’s wrong here. I would hate to think that the women’s game is being neglected, especially since the IRB’s recent announcement of a Women’s Development Plan.

Regardless of the challenges the team faces, however, I’ll be giving them my full support throughout the 6 Nations. Come on, Ireland! Heeeeeeave!

• The full 6 Nations fixtures list is below. You can keep up to date on the ScrumQueens 2012 Fixtures and Results page here.

Round One

Fri, 3rd Feb: Ireland v Wales (Ashbourne RFC at 19:30)
Sun, 5th Feb: France v Italy (Stade Emile Pons Riom at 15:00)
Sun, 5th Feb: Scotland v England (Lasswade RFC at 17:00)

Round Two

Sat, 11th Feb: France v Ireland (Stade de Hameau, Pau, at 18:30)
Sun, 12th Feb: Italy v England (Rino Venegoni Stadium, Parabiago (Milan), at 15:00)
Sun, 12th Feb: Wales v Scotland (Cross Keys RFC at 13:00)

Round Three

Fri, 24th Feb: Ireland v Italy (Ashbourne RFC at 19:30)
Sat, 25th Feb: England v Wales (Twickenham at 18:15)
Sat, 25th Feb: Scotland v France (Stirling County RFC at 14:00)

Round Four

Fri, 9th Mar: Ireland v Scotland (Ashbourne RFC at 19:30)
Sat, 10th Mar: Wales v Italy (Millenium Stadium at 17:00)
Sun, 11th Mar: France v England (Stade Charlety, Paris, at 13:45)

Round Five

Sat, 17th Mar: England v Ireland (Esher RFC, London, at 14:30)
Sun, 18th Mar: Italy v Scotland (Pagani Stadium, Rovato (near Brescia), at 15:00)
Sun, 18th Mar: Wales v France (Cross Keys RFC at 14:00)

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