WRU: Empty seats just a “blip” 09/11/2010 |
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Rugby officials have blamed a "blip" for 20,000 empty seats at Wales' opening autumn international against Australia at the weekend.
Just 53,127 attended the match at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday (November 6) – one of the lowest against a leading nation since the arena was built.
Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) group chief executive Roger Lewis said it was the medium price range of tickets failing to sell.
However, sales are looking better for the other autumn fixtures, he added.
Only the November 27 fixture against New Zealand is sold out, with South Africa and Fiji still having capacity.
But the WRU said more than 50,000 tickets have been sold for the South Africa game on November 13.
Lewis added that the WRU is investigating ways of filling the 74,500-seater stadium at the less popular fixtures, especially during the current tough economic climate.
He confirmed family tickets priced at less than £60 will be available for the first time.
But he argued the turn-out should be viewed in a historical context and was just a "blip".
Lewis told BBC Wales: "It's always very tempting to draw quick conclusions in these circumstances.
"Yes there were 53,000 people at the game, but historically that is not a shock.
"In 2009 against Argentina and Samoa, we had 53,000 and 58,000 and in 2007 we welcomed 56,000 to watch South Africa.
"In 2007, we had 48,000 to the Rugby World Cup warm-up against France and during the last recession in 2001 and 2002 we did not sell out any of the autumn test matches including New Zealand."
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