The full story....

All wars are trade wars, they say, and the dispute between the French Rugby Federation and Consortium Stade de France which runs the great ground is about commercial interests.

The French Rugby Federation is under pressure from the Six Nations Committee because the Consortium has sold advertising boards at ground level to somebody else where they should have been reserved for the Royal Bank of Scotland, the main sponsors of the Six Nations championship.

The Six Nations committee has apparently threatened to withdraw France's home matches if the matter can not be solved to its satisfaction.

France have two home matches in 2007's Six Nations - against Wales on 24 February and against Scotland on 17 March.

The Federation have suspended the sale of tickets for the Scotland match.

No doubt a solution will be found and then the contract tightened for the future. After all, even friends can fall out about money and then make it up again.