It was a terrific endorsement of Gloucester's running, all-court game and once Saracens were asked to chase the contest early in the second half, the home side butchered them on the counter-attack.

Suddenly, they have re-found their conviction and direction in the last fortnight - and much of that has centred around two maturing performances from Ryan Lamb. The number 10 floats and weaves in such dangerous areas that when he controls matters too he is a serious handful.

Here, here chipped and kicked, passed and jinked - mixing up his bag of tricks so successfully that Saracens' defence was always under pressure. Throw in another seek and destroy mission from the remarkable Andy Hazell and a hatful of other hot offerings throughout the Kingsholm ranks and it is easy to see how Gloucester progressed.

Hazell has been in glorious form all season and here he shook off a bad dead leg in the opening stages to give the great Richard Hill a torrid time at the breakdown. Hazell was first to everything - turning over ball on the floor, appearing in the wide channels and crowning his performance with a second half try.

Both teams were nervous early on and made mistakes but this was Saracens' best period. Glen Jackson prompted and probed, Andy Farrell ran hard at the line and Sarries generally kept the ball alive well in the opening stages.

It took a little piece of fortune to get Gloucester off and running after Peter Richards and Willie Walker launched a long-range attack that took possession deep into Saracens territory through the hands of James Simpson-Daniel and Iain Balshaw.

From the line-out, Simpson-Daniel threatened through midfield and when the ball came back, Lamb chipped through towards Mark Foster who was in a footrace with Thomas Castaignede. However, the Gloucester winger was tackled without the ball and after consultation with the fourth official, referee Wayne Barnes awarded the try.

Although Jackson kicked a penalty, Saracens were made to suffer again when they lost Kameli Ratuvou to the sinbin for tipping Balshaw in the air as he aimed to collect Lamb's cross-field kick.

Gloucester took full advantage of the extra man when they drove two line-outs infield and from the scrum, Richards scored comfortably past Ben Skirving from Luke Narraway's little feed down the short side.

The 14-3 lead was reduced to 14-6 immediately after the re-start with a second Jackson penalty but Gloucester broke the match open when they scored from distance again. Simpson-Daniel led the charge, carving up the ground before finding Balshaw.

Balshaw did very well to retain possession and through Walker, Gloucester recycled quickly. Olivier Azam and Richards sustained the move before Lamb picked the perfect pass to get Hazell away and the flanker put Narraway in for the score that made it 21-6.

Jackson cut the gap again with a 50th minute penalty but from the re-start Saracens cut their own throats again. They rolled possession forward but Neil de Kock's pass hit Iain Fullarton on the shoulder and Anthony Allen picked to score.

At 28-9 ahead, Saracens were sunk and Walker continued his excellent kicking form by landing a 54th minute penalty. Four minutes later, Lamb was at it again when he pushed Saracens back through the centre, gathered possession and sent Mark Foster home on an angled ball for try number five.

Gloucester were in their element now and roared on by a crowd loving every minute, they were to score twice more.

First, Hazell capped a wonderful performance with a run to the line following yet another Saracens turnover and a neat pass from Carlos Nieto and 11 minutes from time, they scored try number seven.

Simpson-Daniel and Balshaw were at the heart of the move before Lamb, loving every minute his freedom and confidence had given him, found Pete Buxton with a long ball and Christian Califano - one of the world's great props - appeared on the wing to dive in for the try to send Gloucester gloriously to Twickenham.

The final whistle was greeted with an avalanche of approval as Marco Bortolami and his team set off on a mini-lap of honour to thank the supporters. Gloucester have gathered themselves at just the right moment and have one more bridge to cross.