Ludovic Mercier, Gloucester's shaven-headed metronome from Aurillac, is well on his way to becoming an honorary Shedhead after another pinpoint kicking display which bagged 19 points.
Each time the 25-year-old fly-half steered the ball between the posts the Shed responded like a seething sea, showing noisy appreciation of a man who has scored 410 points in 25 games this season.
Those impressive statistics explain why Gloucester's new director of rugby, Nigel Melville, has moved swiftly to sign Ludo, as he is known to the Kingsholm faithful, on a new contract even though he has two potential playmakers, Henry Paul and James Simpson-Daniel, straining at the leash. Mercier's skills have also done much to keep Gloucester in second place for most of the Premiership campaign, a position that will give them home advantage in the play-offs.
Saracens did not perform badly - witness a silky first-half try by Gerald Arasa - but they fell by the wayside in the final quarter when Mercier spearheaded a stunning salvo of 16 points in 17 minutes. The decision of the Saracens captain Tim Horan to pick himself at fly-half ahead of Jannie de Beer and Luke Smith left them without a specialist goalkicker, much to the amusement of Mercier's many fans.
Gloucester's pleasure in moving the ball through hands like champagne Charlies was founded on a solid platform of set-piece domination which denied Sarries useable ball the longer the game went on.
Indeed Gloucester's relentless efficiency at scrum and lineout suggests they have the capacity to finish with two trophies, the European Shield and the Zurich Championship. One suspects the men of the West Country might yet catch Leicester off guard on the neutral turf of Twickenham, if they both get that far.
Saracens were always chasing the game after Robert Todd capitalised on a ball that skidded out of a scrum with a fifth-minute try near the posts. Shortly before half-time Terry Fanolua squeezed in at the left flag.
Two of the three players sin-binned were Gloucester men, Fanolua and Mark Cornwell, both guilty of technical offences in the plethora of rucks that marked the game. Saracens, though, could not make their extra man count on either occasion.
By the time the scrum-half Andy Gomarsall wrapped up the win with a last-minute touchdown, Mercier had left the field, having been sand-bagged by Saracens once too often. Paul, who had looked uncomfortably surplus to requirements, was relieved to be given the chance to kick a tricky conversion. Like Leicester, Gloucester have apparently acquired the knack of signing quality players for creative roles that are already filled.
In their remaining five league games Saracens will continue to live dangerously unless they pick players capable of taking the points on offer; Kevin Sorrell missed three kickable penalties at moments when Sarries badly needed to move up a gear. No one need be surprised if they are battling in the relegation zone on the final day of the Premiership season.
Gloucester: Catling; O'Leary, Paul, Todd, Fanolua; Mercier (Simpson-Daniel, 77), Gomarsall; Woodman (Collazo, 70), Azam, Pucciariello, Fidler, Cornwell, Boer (capt), Forrester, Paramore.
Tries: Todd, Fanolua, Gomarsall. Cons: Mercier 2, Paul. Pens: Mercier 5.
Sin-bin: Cornwell, 26; Fanolua, 45.
Saracens: Sparg; Johnston, Shanklin, Sorrell (Smith, 74), Arasa; Horan, Bracken (Walshe, 60); Flatman, Russell (Cairns, 65), Durant (Harbut, 65), Benazzi (capt; Cole, 70), Murray (Roche, 71), Chesney, Roques, Hill.
Try: Arasa. Con: Sorrell. Pens: Sorrell 2.
Sin-bin: Roche, 79.
Referee: R Maybank (London).
Attendance: 9,262.
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