Frank Hadden last night stepped down as Scotland's head coach after another poor Six Nations campaign in which his side lost four of their five matches. The 54-year-old Hadden had taken over from the Australian Matt Williams in September, 2005.
Scotland's captain Mike Blair had claimed after the Calcutta Cup defeat by England a fortnight ago that Hadden had the full support of his squad and laid the blame for the poor results at the feet of the players. "It's individual basic errors that have let the opposition into the game," Blair said. "That's not something the coaching staff can deal with. That's for the players to deal with."
Next year Wales and France will continue the Six Nations' Friday night experiment they started this season when, for the first time, a match in the championship was not played on a weekend. That game took place in Paris in February with a 9pm start and in 2010 the sides will meet on Friday 26 February at the Millennium Stadium in an 8pm kick-off.
The move was not popular with supporters but it proved a hit with broadcasters. "We are delighted to be involved in the ongoing experiment in the fixture schedule," said the Welsh Rugby Union's chairman, David Pickering, who also chairs the Six Nations committee. "The match in Paris generated the biggest television audience for a game in France at an average audience of 5.9m and the second largest in the tournament across the UK.
"Our clubs said the Friday night had a positive impact with clubhouses full to the raftersand record takings reported in bars. The experiment will be reviewed after the end of the 2010 Six Nations but we are seeing genuine reasons for saying it is successful."
France and Italy will have two Sunday matches and the new champions, Ireland, begin the defence of their title at home to Italy. England's first fixture is against Wales at Twickenham.
2010 Six Nations (all times GMT) Saturday 6 Feb Ireland v Italy 2.30pm; England v Wales 5pm. Sunday 7 Feb Scotland v France, 3pm. Saturday 13 Feb Wales v Scotland, 2pm; France v Ireland 4.30pm. Sunday 14 Feb Italy v England 2.30. Friday 26 Feb Wales v France. Saturday 27 Feb Italy v Scotland 2.30; England v Ireland 4pm. Saturday 13 March Ireland v Wales 2.30pm; Scotland v England 5pm. Sunday 14 March France v Italy 2.30pm. Saturday 20 March Wales v Italy 2.30pm; Ireland v Scotland 5pm; France v England 7.45pm.
