Christmas had begun uneasily for Gloucester, with a thumping defeat away to London Irish. They recovered at lowly Bristol and settled for consolidation with this victory. It was more character-­building than euphoric on a day of bitter chill and crispy patches.

The game survived a pitch inspection an hour before kick-off, but there were still white zones of discomfort in front of the main stand. Any objection by the visiting coach, Eddie Jones, and it would have been postponed. But it seemed Saracens thought there were better ­pickings to be had here than a few scabs on the knees.

A few seemed not to care what the weather was doing. Dave Lewis, the 19-year-old recruited by Gloucester from Exeter, had played exceptionally well against Bristol and set off at a rare old pace here, streaking away from a line-out in the first minute. The move was ended by Richard Haughton, back after injury, with a tackle in the corner, but it had provided a glimpse of a new scrum-half talent.

English players with a few more years under their belt were soon prominent, although Andy Farrell was not among them, limping off after 14 minutes. As he turned his back on the game, the score stood at 3-3, after a penalty apiece from Olly Barkley and Glen Jackson.

Mike Tindall and Lesley Vainikolo then combined quite brilliantly – and with subtlety (not a trait they overuse) – for the game's opening try. Having sent play back and forth to stretch the defence, Tindall accelerated on to a pass to surge through, near the left wing. It opened up space for Vainikolo, who still had to wait for the off-load. Tindall delivered brilliantly, but the pass was still not as sweet as Vainikolo's to Olly Morgan. For the youngster to upstage his elders, he had to go some, but the full-back who had started the move also finished it.

Morgan is held in special esteem at Kingsholm, so it says something for the performance of Apo Satala as a ball-­carrier in the back row that he won more plaudits than Morgan. Not far behind the Fijian, who only arrived as a replacement for the injured Akapusi Qera, were ­Alasdair Strokosch, the strong-armed Scotsman, and Luke Narraway, whose catching skills above his head earned him more than one round of applause.

Vainikolo, the target of so many of Gloucester's passing movements, would not survive the half. After 30 minutes, he was taken off the pitch on a stretcher with what is believed to be a serious Achilles injury. By this time, Saracens had reduced the deficit by three points thanks to a second penalty by Jackson and were about to take the lead. Instead of place-kicking for the posts, Jackson kicked across field to Haughton, who caught and scored.

Having been efficient and in control, Gloucester were suddenly behind. They rallied with a Barkley penalty, but Saracens took a three-point lead into the interval after Gloucester were penalised from the restart.

Their lead should have been extended at the start of the second half, but Jackson missed a sitter. Instead, Gloucester's increasing sense of frustration was calmed by Barkley's third penalty and the game was all-square again. And so it remained for a time. The sun disappeared over a pink horizon, the mist rose into the floodlights and the scoreboard did not budge.

Wikus Van Heerden tackled anything that came his way around the fringes; Tindall locked up the midfield when Gloucester had to defend. That was not enough, as Saracens chose to play for territory downfield. The only time play broke out of the frosty patches between the 22s was when Barkley aimed a ­penalty at the posts. It missed and the game slipped into the last quarter.

Neil de Kock returned from some ­running repairs and, with a white headband making him conspicuous, went too early around the end of a line-out, towards the midfield. Barkley, from a similar distance to his previous miss, made no mistake with the penalty kick.

He was just as accurate the next time Saracens forced their defensive operation, replacement Noah Cato having blocked the way just outside his 22. Gloucester had drawn clear; Saracens would have to grow more adventurous.

That remained beyond them. First, Andy Saull, who had replaced Michael Owen just after half-time, was sent to the sin bin for yet another piece of spoiling. Secondly, Gloucester sensed there were more tries to be had. Satala continued to make ground, his hitch-kicking, head-back style allowing him to break out of the first tackle. Tindall, too, forged ahead, a solo run taking him to within eight metres of the line, with tacklers hanging off him, one per limb.

Saracens were forced into an entirely defensive mode. They still had a losing bonus point to protect. They had come here in search of the spoils; they left clinging to a solitary point of comfort on a day of hard landings.