Ireland women’s Twickenham match set for live television broadcast

Irish rugby fans will be able to watch the Grand Slam-winning Irish women’s team against England at Twickenham as they chase the

Triple Crown. Having won their two games at home to Scotland and wales, Ireland face England in Twickenham tomorrow week shortly after the Irish men’s team play England on the same pitch.

RTÉ have agreed to show live coverage at 6.20pm. Ryle Nugent will commentate with former player Joy Neville alongside, while Rosie Foley will provide analysis in studio. The programme will start at 6.15pm.

Convoluted discussions
Meanwhile, as the convoluted discussions over the future of the Heineken Cup and broadcasting rights with Sky and BT continues, so too does the issue of Zebre and Treviso's participation in next season's Pro 12. A positive meeting took place yesterday in London between the governing bodies of rugby, the IRFU, SRU, WRU and FIR, where they discussed Italian participation in the competition. In recent weeks Italian Rugby Federation president Alfredo Gavazzi has said the organisation intends to withdraw both clubs from the Pro12 and enter them in a new eight-team league with only Italian teams participating.

That was confirmed over a week ago when Treviso said they would leave the Pro12. A statement cited indecision over the “organisation, participation and regulations” of the Pro12 as the main reason for the decision.

According to a brief Celtic Rugby Statement released yesterday, "The meeting was very constructive with progress made by all parties.