Despite what could be Jonny Wilkinson’s last ever game at the home of English rugby, Twickenham may only be two-thirds full for Saracens' Heineken Cup semi-final against Toulon on Sunday.

Only 20,000 tickets, which cost from £35 to £50, have so far been sold for the contest which is a ‘home country’ match for Saracens but controlled by the European Rugby Cup.

Barring a late surge on ticket sales, the semi will see one of the lowest attendances in a decade, a situation Saracens chief executive Edward Griffiths admits is "not ideal".

"It is not ideal for the sport where you have a big game involving two big clubs played in a stadium where there are gaps," Griffiths said.

"'But I’m not going to say ERC are culpable because they have to run a complex competition and they feel that the easiest way to do it is to have one set of rules for everyone.

"If that means they have a lack of flexibility, you can sort of understand why."

An ERC statement read: “Twickenham was selected from the limited number of venues available and was the first choice of Saracens."

Sarries director of rugby Mark McCall does not believe that a disappointing crowd will affect his players who, before moving to Barnet’s Allianz Park in February, played their home matches at a variety of venues.

Sarries also played at Twickenham when they beat Ulster in the quarter-finals of the competition.

He said: "The next best option after Allianz Park for us is Twickenham because a lot of our players currently have good experiences there with England.

"This year we obviously played well here against Ulster as well so for us it’s the next best option."