All sorts of contenders for wider recognition were here, not least Gloucester's full-back Henry Paul who must be odds-on for the season's Most Embarrassing Injury award following his late withdrawal with a cricked neck sustained while watching breakfast-time television.
While this may have provided some light relief, the only news that will concern the home side's squadron of England hopefuls as they rise gingerly from their beds this morning is that coming from the mouth of Clive Woodward. The England head coach's 22 to face New Zealand could conceivably contain six Gloucester players but this brutally absorbing battle of no tries and plentiful individual points-scoring provoked as many questions as it answered.
If there was much to admire in the way the Premiership leaders survived the most direct physical challenge they will encounter in front of the Shed this winter, the man-for-man verdicts were mixed.
Andy Gomarsall, despite a spectacular late drop-goal from halfway, made less impact in the wet conditions than Matt Dawson and the much-feted James Simpson-Daniel, one strong run apart, barely had the ball in attack, and fretted on occasions in defence.
In the back row James Forrester had his hands full coping with the attentions of the formidable Andrew Blowers and the relentless Budge Pountney, who was arguably the man-of-the-match for his contribution to a Saints' forward effort which faltered only in the second-half.
As for Marcel Garvey, the 19-year-old winger mixed blinding acceleration with an impressive appetite for tackling but, late on, attempted a kick which proved that even boy wonders have their weak spots. With Phil Vickery already a front-row certainty, it was left to Trevor Woodman, a constant scourge at loose-head, to make the most compelling case for a start against the All Blacks, not perhaps the ratio Woodward would have preferred.
Happily, as the Saints' coach Wayne Smith wisely reminded everyone, modern international teams are not chosen on the basis of one rainy day's evidence and Nigel Melville, himself a noted former England scrum-half, is not ruling Gomarsall out yet. "England are very privileged to have two extremely good scrum-halves and I think both of them will be on the field at some point. It very much depends how Clive wants to start the game. Gomers will give you more width whereas Matt is very good around the edges."
Dawson, as he did here after Paul Grayson's first-half departure, can also kick a goal or two and the heavy strapping around Gomarsall's left thigh will not have escaped Woodward's notice either. Unusually Gomarsall's passing also gave his fly-half Ludovic Mercier palpitations, with balls that might previously have bounced kindly instead skidding horribly at the Frenchman's shins. By the end old-time scrum-halves were extolling the virtues of the traditional dive-pass and Dawson, who has not started for England since the ill-fated grand slam failure in Dublin just over a year ago, had edged the personal duel within the broader tussle between the two leading rivals for Leicester's domestic crown.
After losing to Wasps last week, no wonder Gloucester saw this a must-win game. The next three club weekends will be like staging a circus without any star acrobats but Melville is already predicting that Northampton will be leading the chasing pack when post-international service resumes.
A further boost for the Saints is the arrival today of their new overseas signing Bruce Reihana and Smith feels his squad has sufficient character to overcome the loss of his eight-strong Test contingent. "The challenge for us is to move on with the players we've got so we're not just waiting for the internationals."
Paul's neck spasm - "God knows what he was watching," sighed Melville - should have eased for his side's trip to London Irish on Sunday but, if it stays wet, the key man in Gloucester's side will undoubtedly be Mercier. Yet again the man they call 'Ludo' monopolised the scoring with five penalties, even if it was Gomarsall's scudding drop-goal which ultimately cost Saints a precious bonus point. "When he went to kick it three of our players took cover because they thought it might hit them," laughed Melville. Whether he is still smiling in three weeks' time will depend on a variety of factors, many beyond his control.
Gloucester: Delport; Garvey, Fanolua, Todd, Simpson-Daniel; Mercier, Gomarsall; Woodman, Azam (Fortey, 69), Vickery (capt), Eustace (Pearce, 80), Cornwell, Boer, Forrester, Paramore (Buxton, 38).
Pens: Mercier 5. Drop-goal: Gomarsall.
Northampton: Beal; Sleightholme, Tucker, Leslie, Cohen; Grayson (Brooks 35), Dawson; Smith, Thompson, Morris (Stewart, h/t; Budgen 74), Phillips (Soden, 74), Connors, Blowers, Pountney, Seely (Hunter 57).
Pens: Grayson 2, Dawson.
Attendance: 11,000.
Referee: J Kaplan (South Africa).
