Eddie Jones, the Saracens director of rugby, will this week open talks with Danny Cipriani's agent after admitting his interest in signing the Wasps and England outside-half, who is out of contract at Adams Park at the end of the season.
Cipriani, who is seeking a deal worth a reported £350,000 a year, is free to talk to other clubs with less than six months remaining on his Wasps contract. He has been linked with a number of French sides, including Perpignan and Stade Francais, who can exploit the pound's collapse against the euro, but he has said that if he leaves Wasps he would prefer to remain in the London area.
Saracens have it all to do to secure the lure of a place in the Heineken Cup; despite conceding a double to Gloucester in an attritional match that only went ahead after a pitch inspection, Jones is confident his side can secure a top-four finish and is looking to recruit up to six players for next season with Cipriani among the targets.
"The question for Cipriani is whether he wants to become a really good player and his future comes down to his own motivation," said Jones. "His England ambitions would be best served by remaining in the Premiership, but if money is more important, he will go to France.
"I will certainly have a chat with his agent because Cipriani has the potential to be a brilliant player. He can play at full-back as well as outside-half and any player who can appear in more than one position has value. He kicks goals and makes things happen, but if the salary cap drops to £3.5m next season, £350,000 would amount to 10% of it and that is a big chunk on one player."
Saracens remain in the bottom half after their sixth defeat in 11 matches, but they led at half-time and were left to rue an early second-half penalty miss by Glen Jackson from 25 yards just to the right of the posts that would have put them six points ahead. The match proved a tight, scrappy encounter that suffered from the breakdown area too often developing into pile-ups.
Neither side was able to secure quick ball and both resorted to kicking from their own half, a consequence, lamented Jones, of the experimental law variations "stuffing up the game". If Gloucester had developed a reputation in recent seasons for lacking something in arm-wrestles, they now have a physical edge and muscled their way to victory in the second-half.
They supplied the few telling moves of the game and at their hub was Mike Tindall. He created his side's try on 14 minutes, surging through two tackles and freeing Lesley Vainikolo, who stayed on his feet in a challenge from his opposite number, Kameli Ratuvou, to supply Olly Morgan with the pass for the full-back's sixth league try of the campaign.
Vainikolo later went off with an achilles-tendon injury that is likely to keep him out for the rest of the season, but Tindall remained, despite picking up a dead leg early on, and nearly supplied the coup de grace when his strong burst into Saracens' 25 ended with Luke Narraway knocking on when trying to pick up Olly Barkley's chip to the line.
Tindall has played in every one of Gloucester's games this season, enjoying his best run of fitness since England won the World Cup in 2003, and he merits a recall by England, not least for the experience and form he would bring to a backline that showed its callowness last November.
"I spoke to Brian Smith [the England attack coach] after the autumn Tests and I would love to be part of the Six Nations," said Tindall. "The management are restricted in the number of changes they can make to the squad. It makes it harder when things are set in stone, but it is something that has to be dealt with to get the form players into the side."
