Hearts v Celtic: The crucial Six Nations factor which could come into play for Scottish Cup tie date

The Scottish Cup quarter-final draw pitted Hearts with Celtic in what is the blockbuster tie of the round due to be played at Tynecastle Park.

There will definitely be one non-Premiership side in the last four of the competition with Ayr United due to face the winners of the Darvel and Falkirk tie which takes place in Ayrshire on Monday night. Raith Rovers, having seen off Motherwell, will go to Ibrox to play Rangers, while Inverness CT will host Kilmarnock.

The ties are scheduled to be played on the weekend of Saturday, March 11 and the games could be spread across the weekend on BBC and Viaplay. The likelihood is that Hearts v Celtic will take place on the Saturday, whether it will be an early afternoon kick-off or 5.30pm kick-off. That is because of Scotland’s involvement in the Six Nations.

After back-to-back wins over England and Wales, Gregor Townsend’s men travel to Paris to play France on Sunday, February 26. Then, two weeks later, on Sunday, March 12, they will host Ireland in what could be seen as a winner-takes-all match for the Six Nations title with Scotland, who haven't won the tournament since 1999, taking on Italy in their final game the following week in Edinburgh. The Ireland fixture will kick-off at 3pm at BT Murrayfield. Due to the close proximity to Tynecastle, the stadiums separated by just 600 metres, a policing decision could be taken to play the matches on separate days.

Hearts noted the fixture details, both date and time, are TBC.