New Zealand's response to applied interpretations of rugby's laws has resulted in Super Rugby Aotearoa being branded as possibly 'the best domestic tournament ever staged'.
British rugby writer Chris Hewett said in The Rugby Paper that England's Premiership relaunch had been 'about as compelling as a Theresa May conference speech short of the coughing fits, the stage invasions and the collapsible backdrops.'
"The best talent in New Zealand, playing in what may have been the best domestic tournament ever staged, succeeded in sharpening our senses.
"By comparison, the English version is rugby on decaf: a lower-grade brand with all the stimulants removed," he said.
Not all Premiership games were affected but Hewett said some had so little speed and movement in them they looked like they had been played on 'surfaces of wet cement'.
Rain was no excuse because it had also rained in New Zealand.
Despite the intensity of Super Rugby Aotearoa, games had produced an average of nearly six tries a game. The Premiership had been a try and a half off the pace.
Hewett said try-scoring was not the measure of assessing the value of a game. The game was about tries being as hard to score as goals in soccer, otherwise it became basketball.
But New Zealanders scored higher numbers of tries, even against fellow Kiwi teams who were determined to deny them.
The difference between New Zealand and England's approach was evident in the 42 Tests the two countries have played. England had won the try count in only five of them, he said.
Even when England beat the All Blacks 38-21 in 2012, the New Zealanders were level in try-scoring on the day. In last year's Rugby World Cup semi-final, it had been similar when both teams scored a try apiece.
"New Zealand sides score more tries than everyone else, partly because they tend to be more highly skills in more positions but mostly because they make it their business to ask fresh questions of themselves in the cause of continual reinvention. You don't become a master by ceasing to be a student," he said.