The credit crunch has hit ticket sales for England's Six Nations matches at Twickenham.

The Rugby Football Union have put tickets for the games against Italy, France and Scotland on general sale after some were returned by clubs.

This is a surprise given that the France and Scotland fixtures have sold out for more than 40 years.

There are still 3,000 tickets available for the clash against Italy a week on Saturday and the RFU have lost £2million of corporate hospitality business for the matches and warned of a £10m drop in revenue next season.

Despite the recession, RFU chief executive Francis Baron said: "We should still be able to sell out each match. All three matches are on public sale and we're having to work hard to achieve sell outs. Even for Six Nations matches it's difficult.

"Hospitality sales for the Six Nations will be down by 27 per cent against budget. It's entirely recession-related. Clubs have always taken up the entire allocation for the traditional games but we're getting returns."

Another result of the worldwide cash crisis is that England will delay a decision on whether to bid to stage the 2015 World Cup until as late as possible.

The host nation will need to stump up an £80m guarantee to the International Rugby Board.

"We've been doing a lot of detailed work on the numbers," said Baron. "A decision on whether it's wise to put in a bid is finely balanced. We should leave a no-go decision as late as possible given the recession. One or two governments are prepared to provide guarantees. Our own government have made it plain they won't."