Six Nations rugby tickets could be reduced in price after a complete review of ticketing strategy by the Irish Rugby Football Union, the Sunday Tribune has learned.

The IRFU, which admitted it had erred in its handling of tickets for the current autumn series of internationals, has said it will completely overhaul its system at the end of the month. It is likely the union will lose tens of thousands of euro in unsold and very expensive seats from yesterday's match against South Africa although a picture of the overall damage will not be immediately clear.

Alongside the potential drop in Six Nations prices, the pending strategy review will examine the possibility of a tiered system whereby prices vary in accordance with the location of seats.

It is a significant shift in stance from the IRFU which risked alienating supporters in recent weeks after increasing resentment at the price of its two international packages.

A combined ticket for South Africa and Samoa is priced at €150, while a ticket for the New Zealand and Argentina games costs €190.

The inability of clubs to sell their allocations sparked a significant backlash resulting in an IRFU olive branch of free bus and rail transport and an undertaking to review its ticketing strategy at the end of the month.

"Certainly we will have to look at that because we will have to get a clearer picture of the financial implications and what tickets have been sold," a spokesman said.

"We may even look at ticket prices for the Six Nations and that is always a stronger competition but you can't rule out anything at this point.

"We will have to sit down at the end of November when we have had all four games. The situation only became clear in the last fortnight and we certainly didn't want clubs to be in that [financially difficult] situation," said the spokesman. "We didn't want to alienate what are incredibly loyal supporters of Irish rugby but we do have a balancing act in needing to support the only professional sport in the country."

Clubs were encouraged to keep selling their tickets right up to yesterday's game – empty seats at a major international would once have been considered an unlikely prospect.