England and Scotland's Five Nations game on Saturday will be played on a Twickenham pitch free of advertisements.

The Rugby Football Union and Five Nations sponsors, Lloyds TSB, have agreed that the only "pitch-branding" will be behind the goals.

The controversial issue arose during Ireland's opening game of the championship against France in Dublin 10 days ago, when advertisements for Lloyds TSB and Nissan painted on the turf did not stay fast.

After the first midfield scrum collapsed the Irish players' green shirts were covered in blue, while later both sets of teams had red and blue disfiguring their shirts and shorts.

Irish hooker Keith Wood had to have his shaven head mopped free of dye and Five Nations chairman Roger Pickering wrote to the sponsors stating: "This is unacceptable. Find a way of making the colours stay on the grass."

The initiative to leave the main pitch area at Twickenham as an ad-free zone came from the RFU. Management board chairman Brian Baister stated: "I'm delighted that we have reached this arrangement and I would like to thank Lloyds TSB for the constructive and helpful manner in which the talks were conducted since they began three weeks ago."

The RFU were always reluctant to have the advertisements and were given further ammunition by the episode at Lansdowne Road.

Ford Ennals, group marketing director for Lloyds TSB, said: "We accept the RFU's decision." "We view the sponsorship as a partnership and will continue discussions with the Five Nations to ensure the delivery of our contractual right for the benefit of the sport and this prestigious tournament."

The IRFU, meanwhile, are considering their options with regard to the Lloyds logo around the halfway line though given it is worth an estimated £100,000 as part of the £1 million per Union sponsorship deal with the main Five Nations sponsors, it seems highly unlikely that the Union will have a volte face on this issue for the English game at Lansdowne Road.

Likewise, the IRFU have still to make a decision about the advertisements inside the 22s, which are believed to be worth £25,000 each.