The last round of the Prem threw up an unusual weekend in the league’s recent history.

We had Gloucester, at the top of the league, travelling to Leicester and losing in front of the artist formerly known as the Duke of Sussex and still retaining their spot at the summit; we had the second biggest scoreline in Prem history at Northampton; we had Bristol, renowned for their attack, barely firing a shot at Saracens, who have since had to defend the state of their pitch.

Then, we had what looked initially like two comfortable home wins on Sunday going down to the wire, with some law confusion to boot. And that is all before we get on to the attendances.

The image of the empty North Terrace at Sandy Park for Exeter’s narrow victory over Newcastle will live long in the memory. On television, it looked a sorry sight; and TNT Sports’ commentary did not exactly hold back, either, making frequent reference to how mundane and muffled the whole occasion felt.

The assumption was that it had been closed for either construction or renovation, but this was confirmed not to be the case. Just 7,071 supporters turned up to watch the match against Newcastle in a 15,000-capacity stadium.

Exeter were not alone. Last weekend, a sell-out at Saints was the outlier, but Saracens, who did not announce their attendance, could not have had more than 8,000 in their 10,500-seat stadium; Sale welcomed 5,350 in a ground which holds 11,404; Leicester had 16,501 for their victory over Gloucester, which is still a chunky number, but the capacity of Mattioli Woods Welford Road is 25,849.

The optics are not great, but if one digs beneath the surface, there are reasonable explanations for last weekend which reveal the nuances of each club’s individual circumstances.

Different clubs have different needs

The fascinating element is that some clubs are fighting similar issues, but others face entirely different ones. One unsurprising common denominator across for all clubs is the escalating cost of living and, particularly, the cost of diesel; a concern not confined to the sports section. Likewise, if teams play well, their attendance increases.

But other factors are divisive. Take Friday-night kick-offs. The clubs are in thrall to TNT on this front, and when the broadcaster says that their match is at a particular time, there is nothing they can do to change it. TNT rules the roost because they have paid the clubs a vast sum of money.

For example, Leicester despise Friday nights and not even the allure of the table-toppers and quasi royalty could do anything to change that. The Tigers are the best-supported club in the Prem but their fanbase is spread far and wide; even in the county of Leicestershire the majority of rugby supporters are outside the city’s urban areas. That makes getting in and out of the city on a Friday night hard work.

At this point it is worth highlighting how badly the UK rail network functions. Again, not a debate for these pages but a factor all the same. Fans often go to the rugby to have a few beers and watch a sports match, without driving. If they have to drive, in Friday rush-hour traffic, then they think twice about it, often opting to stay at home and watch the match on TNT. Leicester are desperate for more 3pm Saturday kick-offs as a result.

Sale are quite the opposite. They would love more Friday night matches. The Sharks are in an area where football – not just Manchester City and Manchester United but a plethora of Championship and League One clubs – rule the roost. But Friday night is a quieter time on the Manchester sports scene, especially outside the Super League season.

Last weekend, Sale hosted Harlequins at 3pm on a Sunday, their worst possible kick-off time. The Sharks sell plenty of corporate hospitality to businesses hosting clients and Sunday is the least attractive day for this. Plus, many fans come from junior clubs in the North West who all play on Sunday mornings. Carlisle to Salford in time for a 3pm kick-off on a Sunday following junior rugby – not to mention back again – is impossible.

Add in that City’s visit to Liverpool last Sunday clashed with Sale’s hosting of Harlequins – as well as the Trafford Centre banning Sale from using their bus station for matchday shuttles – and it often leads to the Sharks fighting a losing battle. Sale acknowledge that their stadium is, relatively speaking, in the middle of nowhere but, as things stand, bar reducing prices – which they are exploring – they cannot do more.

On the pitch, Sale have not hit the heights in the past two seasons, either. Naturally, this affects ticket sales. The same is true of Saracens, who have failed to reach the play-offs in the past two seasons and are not even allowed to host Friday night games because of council restrictions.

Saracens have their own set of logistical issues, too. For a London crowd keen to avoid a car journey, Saracens is not an easy stadium to reach even if it is far easier for away fans, because it is situated alongside both the M1 and A1.

This season, they are at 80 per cent capacity, but that is in a stadium which seats over 10,000. Ed Coetzee, the new chief executive, has put filling the StoneX at the top of his priorities list.

Season-ticket numbers are up this season. Prospect – the parent company of Oval, who run the Prem stats – has been enlisted to analyse how they can better entice the local population. Last weekend, in the victory over Bristol, fans were allowed on a certain section of the pitch after the match to meet the players. They are looking at ways to improve the matchday experience, such as a fan zone.

Their first two home matches of the season, too, were against Sale and Bristol who, traditionally, are not big rivalries and who do not travel in numbers. Their third? Newcastle. With Saracens, it may require patience, but they need 2,000 more fans to sell out, which is achievable. This brings us back to Exeter. They took on the Red Bulls on Sunday at 3pm. What the North East club have achieved in transforming their home support is exceptional but the fact remains that they have finished bottom of the Prem for the past four seasons. As a travelling side, they do not attract home punters. A 3pm kick-off on a Sunday at the other end of the country does little to entice travelling support, either. It has been well documented that Exeter’s ticket prices have been too high. £97 for the main grandstand with the cheapest in the ground at £24.50 is misguided but, equally, while fans were paying those numbers, why would they reduce them? Now that the crowd have begun voting with their feet, the prices have dropped by up to 25 per cent across 14 of their 20 ticket categories until Christmas.

It was a concern for Rob Baxter on Sunday and, in fairness to the longstanding Chiefs director of rugby, he owned up to it. Baxter also added that a team playing well brings in greater support.

Prem not panicking

For some of the reasons outlined above, Prem executives are not panicking and last weekend is being viewed as a perfect storm of factors. Several of the teams struggling with attendance also happened not to be playing their best, facing an opposition who were not particularly attractive to their fanbase, and playing at an unfavourable time.

There are clubs at the other end of the spectrum. Bath and Northampton regularly sell out while the likes of Gloucester and, until their current malaise, Harlequins always have a high proportion of their tickets sold, often with full stadiums.

Ticket sales are often in direct proportion to success on the pitch. But even so, the Stoop was still sold out for their opener with Bath, although it would come as a surprise if such enthusiasm continued, and it is no coincidence that Bath and Northampton, the respective champions in the past two seasons, have little trouble shifting tickets (and that is even when you factor in that spots at the Rec can shift for prices of three figures).

This season, four clubs have sold out matches: Northampton (twice), Harlequins, Bath and, impressively, Newcastle Red Bulls. TheFanExperienceCompany is aiding all clubs with their matchday experience, too.

The crazy match between the two last Saturday had the second-highest audience share ever for a regular-season game on TNT. So far this season, the Prem has accrued 82,000 new social-media followers, has received more than 209 million views across its platform, and has 19 posts that have accrued more than one million views. In terms of a year-on-year comparison, the first two stats in that data tricolon are three times higher than last year.

All of this has buoyed those at Prem Rugby, and increased exposure is nothing but a positive. However, a separate issue is at play here. There is an argument that it has actually become easier to follow your team from the sofa rather than the stands.

Has it become too easy? Perhaps, but, across the board, the overall numbers of in-person attendance are not particularly disheartening. Before round three, the league was 1 per cent higher than at this time last year.

This weekend, even in Europe, should see stronger attendances as well. Bath are understood to be close to a sell-out against Montpellier. Gloucester will have a good crowd against reigning champions Bordeaux. Sale against Glasgow might be the outliers with their unhelpful 5.30pm kick-off time but Northampton should also be there or thereabouts in filling Franklin’s Gardens against Cardiff.

The following week is derby weekend and the picture will be very different with four out of the five matches trending towards sell-outs.

Last weekend was unfortunate for the Prem, but that does not mean it is a sign of things to come.