THE Rugby Football Union have set England fly-half Olly Barkley a deadline of next week to explain how part of his ticket allocation during the RBS 6 Nations championship fell into the wrong hands.

Tickets belonging to Barkley and his England team-mates Ben Cohen and Matt Stevens were found to have come into the possession of unlicensed companies offering unofficial hospitality pa ckag es at Twickenham.

But while Cohen's case was clear cut and the Northampton winger punished swiftly - his international allocation was suspended for the rest of the season - the cases of Barkley and Stevens required further investigation.

This culminated in the RFU sending a letter requesting explanations from both players but while Stevens has replied, Barkley has not - although commercial director Paul Vaughan is hopeful of receiving a response within the next few days.

Stevens' case has been referred to the RFU's finance and funding committee and he faces losing his allocation for six home games.

Vaughan said: "The ultimate responsibility about what happens to your tickets relies on you, whether you are a player, a council member, club or school."

"It's disappointing player s have been involved in this matter but hopefully the message has now gone out to the players that they are responsible for their tickets and they are for their own use."