There are still a number of tickets left as the WRU continue their efforts to sell them

Tens of thousands of tickets appear to remain available for Wales' three Nations Championship matches this month as the difficult task facing the Welsh Rugby Union becomes apparent.

The WRU has been pushing hard to shift tickets in recent weeks, with a series of promotions and extra children's tickets made available for this weekend's match against Japan.

The governing body is looking to minimise a potential huge financial hit amid the recently announced loss of £18m in the annual report.

Money is tight in the Welsh game, with a similar loss expected next year, and the Union insisting there is no longer enough money to fund four competitive teams.

While any poor crowds would be a reflection of the current state of Welsh rugby on and off the pitch, it's also true that poor sales only serve to hurt Welsh rugby's finances.

At the time of writing, the WRU's official ticketing site says there are around 57,000 tickets available to purchase for the three matches in Cardiff.

The WRU's site says there's 13,560 tickets available for Japan, 16,966 tickets available for the New Zealand match and 26,516 available for Australia. However, it's not exactly clear just how accurate those numbers are - with it not clear whether all bookings show up on the site.

Also, while there are plenty of tickets available throughout much of the upper tier - particularly on the corners of the ground - the back eight rows of almost every section have not got a single seat available to buy. The only exception is one section in each of the New Zealand and Australia matches.

No confirmation has been offered on whether those tickets have been sold or whether they are actually not even being offered to the public for sale amid lower demand. Those seats account for somewhere between 10,000 and 11,000 tickets per game.

Wales' lowest crowd to face Japan at the 74,000-seater Principality Stadium was 56,380 in 2004. Tickets for the Japan game are available for as little as £12.50 for kids and £25 for adults.

Last year's match against the All Blacks was the lowest attendance for a New Zealand match - with the 68,388 crowd just the second time since the stadium opened that the visit of the All Blacks has brought in less than 70,000.

As for Australia, the lowest crowd to date is 53,127.

It's too soon to predict attendances, with the WRU previously pointing to the fact that buying habits have changed, with ticket sales likely to increase in the days before each match.

Having recorded the number of tickets available at the same time on Wednesday, the number of available tickets has gone down by around 1,700 over the course of 24 hours.

However, the Australia match has clearly proven a tough sell - with the 8.10pm kick-off the latest ever start-time for a Saturday international at the Principality Stadium.

WRU efforts to sell tickets

The WRU has gone after the student crowd for the Australia game, selling tickets to students for just £10 last month in a special offer.

The Japan game is being targeted more at families, with reduced ticket prices across the board and additional U18s tickets released in the middle and upper tiers this week after the lower tier sold out.

Players have also been helping to promote the games in social media videos. Tickets for all matches remain available on the WRU ticketing website.