Points pile-ups, old-school Saracens and a royal pint – Prem talking points

After a try-filled round of action, how high can scoreboard inflation climb and what is behind it? There were an average of 10 tries a match in the third round of the Prem It is worth taking a step back to fully appreciate the scale of scoring in the Prem currently. As on Saturday, Saints won to end Bath's unbeaten start to the season. The score then was 24-6. Northampton scored four tries – from Courtney Lawes, George North and David Ribbans (twice). Bath had only two penalties from Rhys Priestland to show for their visit. This weekend it wasn't just a different game. It was like a different sport.

Between them the teams scored 18 tries en route to a ludicrous 71-48 scoreline. The 119-point aggregate score was the second highest in English top-flight rugby history, beaten only by Northampton's 94-33 win over Bristol in May. Five of the 10 top-flight games to have breached the 100-point barrier have come since the start of the 2023-24 season. Looking back at that round of games from 2017-28, there were 26 tries in total across six matches, an average of 4.33 per game. This weekend there were 50 in five games, an average of 10 per match. That is an increase on even the first two rounds of this season, which