Funfair rugby: is the Prem leaving England short for Australia?
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LEEDS, England, Nov 6 : For try lovers, England is the place to be to watch club rugby - there were 18 alone in the Northampton-Bath Prem fixture last month.
The league averages 8.1 tries per game so far this season, which puts it out in front of the United Rugby Championship with 7.6 and the Top 14 in France with 7.2 as the entertainment capital of the European game.
The bang for the spectator buck is undeniable, even if some of the scorelines have veered too far towards basketball for some tastes.
How useful funfair rugby is as a primer for test rugby, though, we are about to find out as the Nations Championship window opens in Europe.
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The concern for England coach Steve Borthwick is that - in the same way as boundary-packed T20 cricket is no sort of preparation for the five-day grind of test cricket - the domestic points bonanzas may have left his players short for the international arena.
The kind of open, expressive rugby which gets the ball in the hands of the likes of England's dangerous wingers Manny Feyi-Waboso and Tommy Freeman has to be a positive in one regard.
Those two in form are a handful for any defence and Freeman, in particular, who goes into Sunday's fixture against Australia with five tries in as many Prem games this season, is flying off the back of the brand of rugby English champions Northampton play.
The problems come in other areas.
The breakdown contest against Australia is likely to be very different from the one in the Prem, which is heavily weighted in favour of the attacking side.
Ollie Chessum, who was coached by Borthwick at Leicester when they won what was then called the Premiership in 2022, says the England coach has earmarked the breakdown for specific attention in training ahead of the game.
"Steve's a very intelligent coach and he's marked that there's quite a difference in the way that is refereed in the Premiership to the way it's refereed internationally," said England forward Chessum, who is likely to wear the No. 6 shirt.
"I think you saw that around that first weekend of European fixtures. Steve made the point that English teams had performed least effectively at the breakdown area.
"It's not a weakness, it's just somewhere we have to alter slightly for the way it is going to be refereed as well as trying to grow our strengths as well."
BREAKDOWN CONCERNS
England's eight clubs entered in the Champions Cup this season managed one win in the opening round of fixtures.
The breakdown concerns are heightened this weekend because the Wallabies have access to one of the world's top poachers in Fraser McReight, who was awarded the John Eales Medal last week as Australia's player of the year.
England will need to control him if they want to secure the win which will keep them in the running for the inaugural Nations Championship final at the end of the month.
Turnover ball would be the magic potion Australia crave to attack off and they have the dangerous strike runners to do severe damage if they get it.
England are not short on effective back rowers, including Henry Pollock, who is set for an impact role off the bench, but when the remit is different from week to week with their clubs it takes a collective recalibration when international rugby comes around.
Defence is the other area Borthwick has been hammering home and, again, that is a reflection of what has been happening domestically. In some Prem games this season it has almost been an afterthought.
England have defence coaches coming out of their ears with four of Borthwick's assistants - Kevin Sinfield, Joe El Abd, Byron McGuigan and Richard Wigglesworth - having dabbled in the role at one point or another.
If such a set-up risks mixed messaging then Borthwick will be hoping Wigglesworth, the official incumbent, manages to put his instructions across loud and clear on Sunday.
(Editing by Christian Radnedge)
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