During his long injury lay-off Jonny Wilkinson said he hoped to enjoy his rugby more when he finally returned. He reckoned without games like this one, a comprehensive Cotswolds mugging which earned Gloucester a fourth straight win and left Newcastle and their perfectionist fly-half with plenty to ponder.
It would be unfair to blame Wilkinson alone for the Falcons dipping to their first defeat of a previously soaring season, because any stand-off operating behind a pack as initially outmuscled as Newcastle's would have had a bumpy ride. Even so it was easily the poorest 80 minutes Wilkinson has endured since his comeback from neck and shoulder surgery, a step backwards at precisely the moment he would have wanted to lift his game an extra notch.
Professional sport can be a brutal business and Wilkinson's post-operative honeymoon is now over. Clicking quietly through the gears, seemingly under instructions to ship the ball on and to avoid juddering contact wherever possible, is fine if the Falcons are on the front foot but there is no such thing as a comfort zone in front of the Shed.
Even when a previously rampant Gloucester lost their rhythm in the second half, there were precious few signs of England's captain-elect grabbing the game by the scruff.
Once, when the intimidating Terry Fanolua thundered his way, he appeared to think better of the kind of tackle he used to relish and his kicking from hand was very mixed. More costly still was the hopeful long pass gleefully intercepted by James Simpson-Daniel for Gloucester's third try. Wilkinson's day was summed up when his relatively simple conversion attempt of Michael Stephen son's spectacular late 60-metre try ricocheted back off a post.
The longer-term question, of course, is whether any of this matters. It is unrealistic to expect even gifted players to step seamlessly back into such a competitive league, particularly when they are carting around such an inflated public profile.
You can bet Leicester, Newcastle's opponents next weekend, will allow him no respite and next up is a trip to the reigning champions Wasps. Life is not about to get easier, although such a masochistic schedule may just be the spur for Wilkinson.
"He's fine," sighed Newcastle's director of rugby, Rob Andrew. "He's completed four tough games and he's pretty pleased with the way he's going. It wasn't easy out there."
Andrew has another tricky call to make this week after Joe Shaw damaged ankle ligaments early on. With Mark Mayerhofler also crocked there is now even more of a case for promoting Andrew's other England fly-half, Dave Walder, and redeploying Wilkinson at centre.
In the end Saturday belonged to a clutch of other England-qualified players, notably Wilkinson's potential international half-back partner Andy Gomarsall. As he indicated beforehand, Gomarsall feels he is now the country's best scrum-half and he played not unlike a latter-day Gareth Edwards as Newcastle were all but blown away in the first quarter.
His quick-thinking and clever chip into space created Glouces ter's opening try for Marcel Garvey and, had they taken their chances, the home side might have sealed a four-tries bonus point before the interval.
The redoubtable Phil Vickery is due back in a fortnight but, in his absence, the front-row incumbents Terry Sigley, the former doorman signed from Pertemps Bees, and the talented young Nick Wood are doing the club proud. The Springbok prop Christo Bezuidenhout also arrives tomorrow and Olivier Azam is charging around like a Pamplona bull. If the Cherry and Whites can break their long-running hoodoo with a victory at Bath on Saturday their blossoming season really will be laden with possibilities.
Gloucester: Goodridge; Garvey, Fanolua, Paul, Simpson-Daniel; McRae, Gomarsall; Wood (Emms, 58), Azam (Fortey, 55), Sigley, Buxton, Brown, Boer (capt), Hazell, Balding (Eustace, 49).
Tries: Garvey, Brown, Simpson-Daniel. Cons: Paul 2. Pens: Paul 3, McRae.
Newcastle: Burke; May, Noon, Shaw (Tait, 23), Stephenson; Wilkinson (co-capt), Grindal (Charlton, 53); Peel (co-capt; Isaacson, h-t), Thompson (Long, h-t), Hurter (Peel, 62), Gross (Hamilton, 73), Grimes, McCarthy (Charvis, h-t), Sititi, Dowson.
Try: Stephenson. Pens: Wilkinson 4.
Referee: A Rowden (Berkshire). Attendance: 13,000.
