The opening round of the Champions Cup made for sobering watching for supporters of the Prem clubs. But perhaps the most uncomfortable viewer of the weekend would have been England head coach Steve Borthwick.

It had all begun so promisingly, with Gloucester producing a thrilling performance in a 36-36 draw with defending champions Bordeaux Bègles at Kingsholm on Friday night. But by the time the shutters were coming down on Sunday night, just one English side, last season’s Prem champions Northampton Saints, had registered a victory.

Even that was slightly underwhelming. Saints had scored 24 tries in their first three fixtures in the Prem, including 11 against Bath, but Phil Dowson’s side, while missing half a dozen front-line players, managed just four against an under-strength Cardiff side in a 28-12 victory.

There were sterling performances in between, with Exeter Chiefs coming close to snatching a draw at French Top 14 champions Toulouse, as Henry Slade missed with a late penalty in a 43-40 defeat. Add a bit more ruthless finishing and Saracens could have emerged with victory at Connacht, who have made great progress under former England head coach Stuart Lancaster.

And yet it is hard not to see the cumulative results as a rather irritable comedown from the sugar rush of the high-scoring opening three rounds of the Prem. Of course, this is just a snapshot. A first hit-out. If Saracens and Exeter had snatched victories, the picture might have looked rosier on paper at least.

However there was a similar trend in the Challenge Cup, with Newcastle Red Bulls losing heavily at the Scarlets; the only success came with Harlequins’ victory against Vannes. Of the seven nations represented in the two tournaments, English teams had the second-worst win rate and second-worst expected win rate.

What is challenging for Borthwick is the reality that when he names his training squad on Sunday for next month’s Nations Championship matches, the defeats shine a light on the difference between how the game is played in the Prem and the step up to the Test arena.

Of all the defeats, Bath’s reverse against Montpellier at the Recreation Ground on Saturday was the most disappointing. Bath, who reached the Champions Cup semi-finals last season, look best equipped, along with Northampton Saints, to be England’s standard-bearers in the competition this season. But losing so comprehensively at home came as a shock to the club.

The strength of the Top 14 is not a new challenge, but the changing landscape has come from the United Rugby Championship (URC), where the different mix of styles of play since the introduction of the South African sides has been significant. Those who do not follow the URC closely might have expected Saracens to win easily in Galway, but Lancaster has made the Irish province into a serious outfit, with half a dozen Ireland internationals in the starting XV.

Likewise, Glasgow, who won comfortably at Sale Sharks, are a top European side, who would have been disappointed at their quarter-final exit at the hands of Toulon last season.

The devil is in the detail: in three of the four key metrics – points conceded (average 38.1), breaks conceded (7.5), and turnovers conceded (15.6) – the Prem clubs collectively came out worst.

The vulnerability of the Prem clubs’ defences was most acute around the breakdown. While they attempted as many jackals per 100 rucks as their opponents, their success rate was lower (19 per cent vs 26 per cent). This in turn led to a lower average carry metres, especially because they secured fewer turnovers than their opponents.

Only Newcastle and Gloucester won more turnovers than the opposition; in attack Prem teams also conceded a high number of breakdown turnovers (4.3 rucks lost per game) and handling errors.

On balance, the Prem clubs struggled to win jackaling turnovers and too often saw the opposition steal the ball; the breakdown contest is a greater step up in Europe, a feature accentuated further on the Test stage.

Defence around kick returns and restarts was robust, but this was undone by a high concession rate of line breaks from lineouts, scrums and multi-phase play.

There was also a notable difference in the attitude to kicking. The English teams had the second-lowest average kick-metres difference (-98 metres), with only Northampton managing higher kick metres than their opponents. Overall, the Prem teams kicked 22.6 times per game compared to an average of 27 by their opponents.

All of this impacted the conversion of try-scoring opportunities, which were significantly down compared to the previous three rounds of the Prem.

The English clubs on average secured more entries into the 22 than their opponents, but once there, Bath, Bristol, Newcastle, Leicester and Saracens all averaged less than 1.8 points per entry. Exeter were the only exception, and they had the benefit of playing with a numerical advantage for most of the game following the first-half red card for Rodrigue Neti.

The hotchpotch nature of this season’s fixture list means the next rounds of the Champions and Challenge Cup fixtures are not until December. The good news for the Prem clubs is that by then their England players should be battle-hardened by their Nations Championship experience. But that is little comfort for Borthwick.

The poor return this weekend demonstrates that for all the thrilling glamour of the first tranche of Prem action, there is much work still to do.