Wales coach Shaun Edwards shares France boss Marc Lievremont's worries about a Friday night Six Nations game in his blog for The Guardian.
"It is something of a rarity to have opposing coaches agree over anything before a Test match, but there is common ground between Wales and France before tonight's international in Paris – both camps have doubts about playing Test rugby on Friday nights.
"Marc Lièvremont was first into action nine days ago. The French coach was adamant: every Six Nations rugby match should be played on a Saturday at 3pm. He said he didn't like evening games and they were bad for the players who had to wait throughout the day, losing energy and getting stressed.
"More to the point, he was upset that his side should be involved in the first Friday night match in Six Nations history after a league weekend when all his potential match-day squad would be involved in Top 14 action – particularly the Toulouse and Clermont players, who last Sunday night staged a re-run of the 2008 final. Lièvremont's point was that nine of the French squad from the game against Scotland, assuming they would do only light work until Wednesday, would have only a couple of days to prepare for a pivotal game.
"Lièvremont's concern rang bells in the Welsh camp. The sympathy Warren Gatland showed the French coach when the matter was raised later that week was based firmly on our experiences with the short turnaround between opening the championship at Murrayfield and playing England. Given only six days between Edinburgh and Cardiff, Warren gambled, more or less resting the guys until the Thursday before the match."
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