Prem talking points this week start with an extraordinary surge in scoring that is reshaping the look and feel of the English top flight.
Ten seasons ago Northampton hosted Bath in round three. As on Saturday, Saints won to end Bath’s unbeaten start to the season, that earlier match finishing 24-6.
Northampton scored four tries then, through Courtney Lawes, George North and David Ribbans with a double, while Bath managed only two penalties from Rhys Priestland.
This weekend the contrast was stark. The tempo, space and ambition produced a contest that felt almost like a different sport.
Between them the teams crossed 18 times in a 71-48 result.
The 119-point aggregate was the second highest in English top-flight history, behind Northampton’s 94-33 win over Bristol in May.
Those two fixtures sit within a notable pattern.
Five of the 10 Premiership matches to pass 100 total points have occurred since the start of the 2023-24 season.
Looking back at the equivalent round from 2017-18, there were 26 tries across six games, an average of 4.33 per match.
This weekend delivered 50 tries in five games, an average of 10 per match.
That figure exceeds even the first two rounds of this season, which averaged 9.3 tries per game, the highest-scoring start to a Premiership campaign since Opta began tracking the measure in 2007-08.
Northampton head coach Sam Vesty, an attack specialist, said after his side’s win that the balance may be tipping. He noted that while he does not want the sport to resemble basketball, there was outstanding attacking play on both sides.
Vesty attributed the spike to a mix of laws and team intent. He pointed to tighter policing of the offside line and lower tackle height, which help keep the ball alive, along with increased game speed and longer ball-in-play time that leaves defenders fatigued.
He added there is greater attacking ambition across teams, with sides going out to score points in a way that has not always been the case.
Former England head coach Eddie Jones has long questioned how well the Premiership prepares players for the attritional nature of Test rugby, where points are harder to come by.
England’s internationals may need time to adjust when they switch into the autumn window.
Prem talking points: scoring boom by the numbers
- 18 tries and 119 points in Northampton’s 71-48 win over Bath, the league’s second-highest combined total.
- Five of the 10 century-plus games have come since 2023-24 began.
- Average tries per game this weekend: 10, up from 4.33 in the comparable 2017-18 round.
- The season opened at a record pace, with 9.3 tries per game, per Opta.