In order to improve the mind, we ought less to learn, than to contemplate. So wrote René Descartes, the 17th-century French philosopher Saracens players have become used to discussing in a group organised by the club’s psychologist, David Jones, as part of the club’s team-building ethos.

There will be contemplation aplenty at Allianz Park after the defeat at Harlequins last Sunday meant the European Champions Cup holders had lost three consecutive Premiership matches for the first time since 2010, the season they made their breakthrough after years of inconsistency.

In 2010 Saracens lost at Wasps, at home to Bath and then away to the bottom club, Leeds in a run of matches during the Six Nations. This season, they lost at Gloucester after dominating the first half and then did the same at home to Exeter before again seeing Harlequins come from behind late on at the Stoop last Sunday.

The first two matches were played during the autumn internationals when they were without six players, as well as the injured Billy Vunipola, but they were close to full strength at the Stoop, as they were on their previous two league visits to the ground, which also ended in defeat.

Saracens’ success has made them prime targets for England to the extent that not only did they lose their outside-half Owen Farrell last month but also, although he was released to play at Gloucester, his backup Alex Lozowski. The second row Nick Isiekwe, groomed this season to take over from Maro Itoje and George Kruis in the international windows, played for England against Samoa.

Sarries are finding their resources stretched and since defeating London Irish at the end of October, they have lost their two matches in the Anglo-Welsh Cup, against Harlequins and Sale, followed by the three league defeats. On Sunday they face Clermont Auvergne at home in the European Champions Cup, the last team to defeat them in the competition in the 2015 semi-final.

Clermont, the French champions, have won only one match on the road this season, at Ospreys on the opening weekend of the Champions Cup, with five defeats and a draw at Oyonnax away from their home ground where they have a 100% record. It is a meeting of the sides who contested the final last May at Murrayfield and with both starting their European campaign with two victories, a home victory will be the sweeter for the denial of a losing bonus point.

Saracens are no more at crisis point than Clermont, who while lying ninth in the Top 14 are only three points behind third-placed Lyon. Their current slump, which follows defeats at Worcester and Gloucester during the Six Nations last season, may prompt a debate over the practicality of having so many England players, but what is also relevant is the way the game is now placing more emphasis on retaining possession, something the Premiership champions and current leaders Exeter are masters at.

Saracens in their league pomp were not the team to play catch-up against, but they let eight-point leads in the final quarter slip against Gloucester and Harlequins and led Exeter by nine at half-time. In each case, they lost to a try, not a penalty. They were games they used to see out and they lost to the Chiefs at Sandy Park in last May’s play-off semi-final to a late try.

The Premiership will reach its halfway point in the next round just before Christmas but already, to look at two of last season’s play-off teams, Wasps have lost as many matches as they did in that campaign, four and Saracens have lost four compared to five. What has been notable in the last three months is the cluster victories and defeats are coming in.

Wasps won their first two matches, lost the next four and are on a four-game winning streak; Northampton won four in a row but have lost their last five; Newcastle started with four wins in five but now have one victory in five; Gloucester have won five in a row after losing three of their first five matches; Saracens have five successive victories before their latest run; and Leicester started with two defeats and have lost their last two games but in between enjoyed a six-match winning streak. Only Exeter and London Irish have been models of consistency.

“The Premiership is the most competitive of competitions,” said Dai Young, the Wasps director of rugby. “There are so many one-score margins that the law of averages dictates some games are going to go against you. All clubs are ambitious and are signing very good players so the gap is getting smaller: it is not about three or four any longer.

“Sarries won a few games late on last season and it is currently going the other way. It is not a huge swing: they have not suddenly gone from winning by 50 points to losing by 50. I think the teams in the top four will lose more games this season than the average: ball in play time is increasing and it makes it harder because teams are scoring tries.

“Sarries are kicking more than they used to and that creates the opportunity for mistakes: they are expanding and becoming a bit looser, but they will be in the top four without a shadow of a doubt, and do well in Europe. If we are in front of Saracens at the end of the season, I will be happy because it means we will be in a good place.”

Crucial for Saracens will be their block of four matches during the 2018 Six Nations. They face Newcastle at home having won their last 15 league matches against the Falcons, then travel to Sale, a club they have lost to once in the last 13, and welcome Leicester, whose last win at Sarries was in 2012, before travelling to Exeter, a club they failed to beat in three encounters this year.

The philosophy club at Saracens is run by the psychologist Jones. “We may discuss Descartes and we discuss themes like envy and anger,” he told the Financial Times in October. “We have conversation cards with open-ended questions.” The aim is to give them a deeper understanding of each other so that, when things go wrong, they pull together. Clermont can expect a reaction.

Unbeaten records on the line

The encounter between Saracens and Clermont at Allianz Park is one of three matches this weekend between teams who have a 100% record after the opening two rounds.

Bath are in Toulon on Saturday and the following day Exeter take on Leinster at Sandy Park in a match which, despite the late kick-off on a Sunday evening that mercifully go when the tournament moves to one live broadcaster from next season rather than two, should be played before a packed house.

Toulon are not the force they were when winning the Champions Cup for three successive seasons but, like most French clubs, they take some toppling at home. Only Racing 92 have won at Stade Mayol this season, prompting the club’s owner, Mourad Boudjellal, to declare war on Sunday rugby, but their only success away in the Top 14 was at Stade Français while in Europe, they needed a last-minute penalty to down Treviso.

Bath, in contrast, have won three of their five away Premiership matches and in their last Champions Cup match beat the Scarlets, last season’s Pro 12 winners, in Llanelli. The Premiership produces more away victories than the Top 14, 23 in 60 matches this season compared to 17 in 84.

Bath will not travel in fear to a ground where Saracens won last season and where the Scarlets in October were in a position to win the game, but they suffered a chastening defeat at Exeter last weekend while Toulon were indulging themselves at home to Lyon.

Chris Ashton, who was moved to full-back a few weeks into the season, scored two more tries to take him to 11 in the league, overhauling the Montpellier wing Nemani Nadolo at the top of the season’s list with 11, while they have two All Blacks to consider in midfield in Malakai Fekitoa and Ma’a Nonu.

The Top 14 leaders, La Rochelle, are at home to Wasps on Sunday having quickly taken to the Champions Cup, which is far from the norm. They are unbeaten at home this season and have passed 35 points in front of their own supporters four times, planting 51 on Clermont.

Players find voice on scheduling

The issue of welfare has seen players find their voice. In a season when the word strike has been mentioned unless the demands being placed on them are changed, they won a victory at the latest meeting of the professional game board at Twickenham.

When the changes to the global season were announced this year, Premiership Rugby quickly announced that it would extend its season by a month, starting not in October from 2019-20, as they will be in France and the Pro 14, but carrying on from the beginning of September through to the end of June.

It is not a decision Premiership Rugby is able to make unilaterally and the Rugby Players’ Association, which is part of the game board, has argued against it. The board decided nothing would be done until a paper was produced at the end of next month detailing how the domestic season would look.

There have been a number of ideas floated, such as ending promotion and relegation, which, so the theory goes, would encourage coaches to rest players more, reduce the size of the Premiership by one or two or increase it to 13, which is its true number given that the relegated team tends to bounce straight back.

A 13-team league would be one fewer than in France or the Pro 14, but it would have the advantage of ensuring that every round there would be one club sitting it out with its players rested.

It would, in the current season length, mean the end of the Anglo-Welsh Cup, but, as ever, there are political hurdles to negotiate. Some on Premiership Rugby want the A league, rather than the Championship, to be the secondary tournament, meaning there would be no more talk about funding the second tier.

A 10-team Premiership would mean a continuation of relegation and promotion for obvious reasons, but a 13-strong top flight would close the door on the Championship, although probably left on the latch. What the clubs do know is that the players, having found their voice and having a role to play, are not going to keep quiet.

Still want more?

• Richmond show part-time may be the way forward for Championship teams, writes Robert Kitson

• All the talking points from the weekend’s Premiership action.

• Victory over Springboks must not lull Wales into false sense of security, says Paul Rees

• Sam Underhill interview: ‘If Eddie does not text you that is probably a good thing’

• Subscribe to the Breakdown now. Just visit this page and follow the instructions.

• And sign up for the best of the Guardian’s sport coverage with The Recap – arriving in your inbox at 12pm every Friday.