The International Rugby Board are facing the embarrassing possibility of empty seats at the Rugby World Cup this October.

The Sunday Telegraph reports that not one corporate box seat has been sold for Rugby World Cup matches at Aussie Stadium, leaving potentially hundreds of empty seats.

Five matches are scheduled for the former Sydney Football Stadium, including the sold-out Scotland-Fiji match.

But seats in dozens of plush corporate suites are going empty, prompting accusations of over-pricing.

The suites are being sold for $2400 (£925) per person for all five games. Corporate packages for individual games cannot yet be bought.

No corporate seats have been sold for the two games at Gosford's Central Coast Stadium - one of which features Argentina - or the two matches at WIN Stadium in Wollongong, one of which features France.

The International Rugby Board is responsible for the sale of the corporate packages, with the Australian Rugby Union responsible only for selling tickets to Australian fans.

The IRB has already reserved 50 per cent of all public tickets to give to other rugby unions around the world.

Rugby Hospitality 03 chief executive Chris Bruton said corporate packages for big matches at Stadium Australia were pulling interest away from the less-popular games at Aussie Stadium.

"We don't expect to sell a lot at Aussie, while Stadium Australia seats are still available," he told the newspaper. "The corporate market is different from the personal market.

"Most rugby fans will go to whatever they can, while corporate clients want to take their guests to games which are perceived to be the highest value.

"At the moment, we are only selling the complete five-game package to Aussie Stadium, but at some stage we will change that to a less onerous package, which would be a match at any time, or maybe even two or three matches."

Australian Rugby Union chief executive John O'Neill told a recent World Cup function that the IRB needed a reality check on the corporate sales.

"We've obviously been successful with our pricing methodology, because we've sold a lot of tickets," he said.

"But the corporate hospitality and boxes and suites are on the market for prices that aren't necessarily reflective of that city or that match.

Mr Bruton said any unsold corporate packages would be returned to the ARU to sell to ordinary rugby fans.

Rugby fans who missed out on the initial ticket offer will also get a second chance to buy tickets next month.

They will receive a letter with details of how to apply within the week.