Stephen Jones vents his frustration about the decision to host the Wales v France Six Nations game on a Friday night in his Rolling Maul blog for The Times.
"What a crying shame that we have reached a disgraceful low point in the grand history of the RBS Six Nations. On Friday, February 27, France play Wales, with the kick-off set for 9pm French time. Horrible, just horrible.
"The essential power and appeal of the tournament has always, always been centred off the field. In the heyday of the Five Nations the number of travelling fans who followed their teams was massive. For one Scotland-Wales match in the 1990s, they reckon that 40,000 Welsh people made the trip to Edinburgh.
"The supporters of each country would travel in droves with tens of thousands adding a wonderful social, cultural, un-sober but friendly element. It was what rugby had over any other sport. It was a source of legend, joy and goodness.
"How abysmally we have violated that tradition. The number of travelling supporters is now drastically down, more than by half. The combination of rip-off hoteliers, with Dublin and Edinburgh the worst, the choking compression of the Six Nations fixture schedule and the regularity of Sunday games mean that people cannot afford the time, the cost and the days off to do what they once loved doing."
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