Saracens scored a try with the last play of the game to secure the 48-40 win, writes Mike Hartwell.
It looked as if the watching fans were in for a treat when both side ran in three tries apiece in the opening quarter of an hour and the lead swapped hands several times before Saracens regained the advantage in the closing minutes.
It was an experienced Gloucester side who took the lead after just three minutes when Jonathan Pendlebury broke through the defensive line to score with Mark Davies adding the extras.
The visitors, who included the likes of Patrice Collazo, Olivier Azam, Christian Califano and James Bailey in their line-up, were then caught cold four minutes later when Matt Cairns went over at the back of a forward surge for the line. Gordon Ross converted.
Two minutes later and Saracens were in front. A flowing move across the pitch ended with James Short going over in the corner.
However, Jack Adams then read a floated pass from Ross to make the interception on halfway and he ran clear to touchdown under the posts. Davies converted. Bailey then went over in the corner to get Gloucester’s third of the afternoon and give them a 19-12 lead.
But when prop Alatise Ale – guesting in the game from Barking RFC - crashed over the line for Saracens with Ross adding the conversion, it levelled the scores in what was a breathless opening quarter of the match.
Pendlebury got himself a yellow card on 32 minutes when Gloucester were penalised for killing the ball for a third time in quick succession but it wasn’t until the final play of the half that Saracens took advantage. Cairns was the man out wide for the overlap and the hooker got his second of the match to make it 24-19 at the break.
Scrum-half Mike Prendergrast sniped through a gap on the edge of a ruck to go clear for the visitors just three minutes into the second half and the conversion for Davies saw the lead change hands once again.
Flanker Tom Audley then struck twice inside five minutes, the second of which was a peach of a score that was started with a break from Rodd Penney out wide before the ball was transferred to the other side of the pitch for Audley to cut in off his line and score.
Adams got his second interception score of the afternoon on the hour, this time taking a pass on the Saracens 22 and going under the posts. Davies converted and it was back to a one point game at 34-33.
Mickey Wilson capped a fine display for Saracens with a try of his own as he wriggled over among a mass of bodies on the Gloucester line with Ross adding the extras.
However, the visitors weren’t finished and replacement scrum half Dave Lewis set up an exciting final 10 minutes with a converted try that made it 41-40.
But a score from Will Fraser with the final play of the game secured the bonus point win for the home side on an entertaining afternoon despite outstanding efforts from Gloucester's number eight Petorious.
Saracens scorers: Tries: Cairns (2), Audley (2), Wilson, Fraser, Ale, Short. Cons: Ross (4)
Gloucester scorers: Tries: Adams (2), Bailey, Prendergast, Pendlebury, Lewis. Cons: Davies (5)
Saracens line-up: Thrower, Penney, Sorrell (Api 41), Stanley, Short (Bishop 70), Ross, Wilson (Baldwin 70), Yates (Mitchell 41), Cairns, Ale (Walker 41), Garvie, Fullarton, Audley (Watkins 60), Seymour, Fraser
Gloucester line-up: Bailey, Sharples (Norton 60), Trinder, Adams, Foster, Davies, Prendergast (Lewis 65), Collazo (George 73), Azam (McMillan 60), Califano (Forster 41), Tuohy, Pendlebury, Gilbert, Thompson (Foden 70), Petorious
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