The six head coaches have confirmed their matchday 23s ahead of the opening round of the 2026 Six Nations.

This year’s action interestingly gets underway on a Thursday with France hosting Ireland at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, just outside of Paris.

The reason for the early start to the tournament is to avoid a clash with the opening ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina on Friday evening.

That means that Fabien Galthie and Andy Farrell’s men will lock horns on Thursday instead.

Team news snapshot

For the encounter, Galthie has effectively named five back-rowers in his starting France XV, with Mickael Guillard and Charles Ollivon packing down in the second row.

Antoine Dupont returns to skipper the side from scrum-half and is joined in the halfbacks by Matthieu Jalibert, while Galthie has selected a 6-2 split on the bench.

As for Farrell, he is dealing with a prop injury crisis at the start of the Six Nations, which has led to opportunities for Thomas Clarkson and Jeremy Loughman, who start either side of Dan Sheehan. There is also a fresh look to the Ireland back-three, also due to injury, as Jamie Osborne, Tommy O’Brien and Jacob Stockdale combine.

Moving onto the first game on Saturday, and three Italy players are set to celebrate their 50th caps for the Azzurri in captain Michele Lamaro, centre Juan Ignacio Brex and fly-half Paolo Garbisi. Gonzalo Quesada is without several of his first-choice stars for the clash with Scotland due to injury, but the head coach has still named a powerful-looking matchday 23 that will be eager to repeat their 2024 heroics in Rome.

Standing in their way is a Glasgow Warriors-heavy Scotland team that surprisingly does not feature Blair Kinghorn and Duhan van der Merwe, while Darcy Graham has been demoted to the bench.

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Instead, it is Tom Jordan, Kyle Steyn and Jamie Dobie who lined up in the back three position as Gregor Townsend rolls the dice in the opening game of his campaign.

Finally, to the Allianz Stadium, where England will be eager to extend their 11-game winning streak as they host Wales in Twickenham. Steve Borthwick has loaded the POM Squad yet again with British and Irish Lions Luke Cowan-Dickie, Maro Itoje, Tom Curry and Henry Pollock featuring among the six forward replacements, while Ben Spencer and Marcus Smith are the reserve backs.

Tommy Freeman notably starts at outside centre while Henry Arundell is deployed on the left wing.

As for Steve Tandy, he has opted to deploy Louis Rees-Zammit at full-back in his first Six Nations game in charge of Wales. He too has opted for a 6-2 bench split in favour of the forwards.

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France v Ireland

France: 15 Thomas Ramos, 14 Theo Attissogbe, 13 Nicolas Depoortere, 12 Yoram Moefana, 11 Louis Bielle-Biarrey, 10 Matthieu Jalibert, 9 Antoine Dupont (c), 8 Anthony Jelonch, 7 Oscar Jegou, 6 François Cros, 5 Mickael Guillard, 4 Charles Ollivon, 3 Dorian Aldegheri, 2 Julien Marchand, 1 Jean-Baptiste Gros
Replacements: 16 Peato Mauvaka, 17 Rodrigue Neti, 18 Regis Montagne, 19 Hugo Auradou, 20 Emmanuel Meafou, 21 Lenni Nouchi, 22 Baptiste Serin, 23 Kalvin Gourgues

Ireland: 15 Jamie Osborne, 14 Tommy O’Brien, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 11 Jacob Stockdale, 10 Sam Prendergast, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Caelan Doris (c), 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Cian Prendergast, 5 Tadhg Beirne, 4 Joe McCarthy, 3 Thomas Clarkson, 2 Dan Sheehan, 1 Jeremy Loughman
Replacements: 16 Rónan Kelleher, 17 Michael Milne, 18 Finlay Bealham, 19 James Ryan, 20 Jack Conan, 21 Nick Timoney, 22 Craig Casey, 23 Jack Crowley

Date: Thursday, February 5
Venue: Stade de France, Saint-Denis
Kick-off: 21:10 local time (20:10 GMT)
Referee: Karl Dickson (RFU)
Assistant referees: Angus Gardner (RA), Jordan Way (RA)
TMO: Ian Tempest (RFU)
FPRO: Richard Kelly (NZR)

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Italy v Scotland

Italy: 15 Leonardo Marin, 14 Louis Lynagh, 13 Juan Ignacio Brex, 12 Tommaso Menoncello, 11 Monty Ioane, 10 Paolo Garbisi, 9 Alessandro Fusco, 8 Lorenzo Cannone, 7 Manuel Zuliani, 6 Michele Lamaro (c), 5 Andrea Zambonin, 4 Niccolò Cannone, 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Giacomo Nicotera, 1 Danilo Fischetti
Replacements: 16 Tommaso di Bartolomeo, 17 Mirco Spagnolo, 18 Muhamed Hasa, 19 Federico Ruzza, 20 Riccardo Favretto, 21 Alessandro Garbisi, 22 Giacomo Da Re, 23 Lorenzo Pani

Scotland: 15 Tom Jordan, 14 Kyle Steyn, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Sione Tuipulotu (c), 11 Jamie Dobie, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Ben White, 8 Jack Dempsey, 7 Rory Darge, 6 Matt Fagerson, 5 Grant Gilchrist, 4 Scott Cummings, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 Ewan Ashman, 1 Pierre Schoeman
Replacements: 16 George Turner, 17 Nathan McBeth, 18 Elliot Millar Mills, 19 Max Williamson, 20 Gregor Brown, 21 George Horne, 22 Adam Hastings, 23 Darcy Graham

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Date: Saturday, February 7
Venue: Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Kick-off: 15:10 local (14:10 GMT)
Referee: Ben O’Keeffe (NZR)
Assistant referees: James Doleman (NZR), Katsuki Furuse (JRFU)
TMO: Richard Kelly (NZR)
FPRO: Marius van der Westhuizen (SARU)

England v Wales
The teams 

England: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, 13 Tommy Freeman, 12 Fraser Dingwall, 11 Henry Arundell, 10 George Ford, 9 Alex Mitchell, 8 Ben Earl, 7 Sam Underhill, 6 Guy Pepper, 5 Ollie Chessum, 4 Alex Coles, 3 Joe Heyes, 2 Jamie George (c), 1 Ellis Genge
Replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Bevan Rodd, 18 Trevor Davison, 19 Maro Itoje, 20 Tom Curry, 21 Henry Pollock, 22 Ben Spencer, 23 Marcus Smith

Wales: 15 Louis Rees-Zammit, 14 Ellis Mee, 13 Eddie James, 12 Ben Thomas, 11 Josh Adams, 10 Dan Edwards, 9 Tomos Williams, 8 Aaron Wainwright, 7 Josh Macleod, 6 Alex Mann, 5 Adam Beard, 4 Dafydd Jenkins, 3 Archie Griffin, 2 Dewi Lake (c), 1 Nicky Smith
Replacements: 16 Liam Belcher, 17 Rhys Carre, 18 Tomas Francis, 19 Ben Carter, 20 Taine Plumtree, 21 Harri Deaves, 22 Kieran Hardy, 23 Mason Grady

Date: Saturday, February 7
Venue: Allianz Stadium, Twickenham
Kick-off: 16:40 GMT
Referee: Pierre Brousset (FFR)
Assistant Referees: Nic Berry (RA), Morné Ferreira (SARU)
TMO: Tual Trainini (FFR)
FPRO: Brett Cronan (RA)

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