Leicester head coach Geoff Parling believes he has returned to a more adventurous English domestic scene this season than the one he left.
After a 14-year career with Newcastle, Leicester, Exeter and England, the Tigers boss spent eight years overseas as player and coach in Japan and Australia where he became Wallabies’ assistant under Joe Schmidt.
Now back in the Prem, and with his feet under the table at Welford Road nearly two months into the season, he feels the landscape has changed in his absence.
“It’s certainly more attacking, I feel,” he told BBC Radio Leicester.
“You don’t see many nil games anymore. You get the odd one – you saw one at the weekend [Exeter beat Harlequins 38-0] – but you don’t get many.
“Teams are scoring more points, there’s more ball in play than there was 10 years ago and teams having a bit more of a crack.”
According to Opta, there were 5.5 tries per game in the Premiership in 2016-17 – Parling’s last in England as a player with Exeter. That number has risen to 7.8 this season.
Leaders Northampton have scored a try-scoring bonus point in all four of their games so far.
Prior to the last round of fixtures before the international break, Parling has also been struck by the unpredictability of the league.
“It’s an exciting league because, in general, pretty much anyone could beat anyone on their day,” he added.
“Maybe the concentration of players from 12 teams to 10 has made it slightly more even. I still probably preferred a 12-team league, I think that was a great number to have – it just felt right – but in terms of teams having a crack and attacking and wanting to shift the ball, we’re definitely seeing more than we used to.”
