RTE confirmed yesterday that it will have no coverage of tomorrow's game between Ireland and England. Sky Sports, which owns the live rights to England's games at Twickenham, has refused to allow RTE to show a recording of the game, as was done when the teams last met at Twickenham in 1998.

"We offered 50 per cent more than we paid last time," said RTE's Group Head of Sport, Tim O'Connor, "but they demanded an increase of 300 per cent, a figure we simply cannot afford."

UTV will carry highlights of the match at 4.20.

All of Ireland's remaining games in the Six Nations championship will be shown live on RTE, as will Saturday's two other games in the championship - Italy v Scotland and France v Wales.