France v Ireland: How to watch the 2026 Six Nations opener
France lift the trophy after winning the 2025 Six Nations title.
Fans in Ireland will be able to watch the opening Six Nations game with France free on RTE, while UK viewers can watch it on ITV.
ITV will show 10 games through the tournament after agreeing a joint rights deal with the BBC until 2029.
French fans will be able to watch on FranceTV and fans in the USA can watch on Peacock, here. Asian fans will be able to watch on Premier Sports, which has also secured the non-exclusive rights to show selected Wales and Scotland games during the tournament in the UK.
Opener in Paris
The action will kick off on Thursday 5 February at 8.10pm UK time and will take place at the Stade de France in Paris.
Fans watching the opening game will notice one big difference with the TV coverage. For the first time ITV says it will show in-game adverts, featuring a short 20-second advert break in play once per half.
The adverts will appear on the right hand side of the screen and the other half will continue to show the action in a first for UK broadcasting of the tournament. ITV has 10 games during the Six Nations and the BBC will show five.
France and Ireland are the two heavyweight teams in the Six Nations tournament this year, having won two titles each in the last four years. As champions, France will be the home side and will open the tournament before a weekend of action that also includes Italy versus Scotland and England taking on Wales on Saturday.
ITV pundits
Mark Pougatch and Jill Douglas will lead ITV coverage of the tournament. Pundits will be chosen from a pool of Jonny Wilkinson, Brian O’Driscoll, Dan Biggar, Ronan O’Gara, Jamie Roberts, John Barclay, Rory Best, Sergio Parisse, Benjamin Kayser, Ugo Monye, Maggie Alphonsi and Greig Laidlaw based on who is playing.
You can expect Ronan O’Gara and Brian O’Driscoll to provide insight from the Irish perspective during opening weekend on ITV.