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Gloucester attack coach Alex King was overjoyed as his side illustrated their huge improvement this season by winning at Saracens for the first time since November 2008 with a deserved 25-24 success.
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Since their last victory at Saracens’ old ground Vicarage Road, Gloucester had lost 12 and drawn the other in 13 visits to their Premiership rivals with the last three meetings seeing the West Country side concede a mammoth 144 points -including a 62-12 defeat.
However tries from Fraser Balmain, Jack Singleton and Lewis Ludlow saw them turn the tide with Adam Hastings adding two penalties and two conversions.
Saracens outscored their opponents in terms of tries by scoring four through Dom Morris, Rotimi Segun, Theo McFarland and Alex Lewington. Alex Lozowski converted two but also missed a simple conversion – as well as a late touchline effort – which ultimately proved costly.
King, whose side fought back after conceding 14 points without reply and losing two players to the sin-bin midway through the first half, said: “I’m immensely proud of the boys to come here and win for the first time in 14 years.
“Today against of one of the leading sides in the Premiership was a real test for us to show where we are at.
“You’ve got to play smart rugby against a side as efficient as Saracens and our kicking game today was spot-on.
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“The most pleasing part of the game was how we managed the sin-bin period. Going down to 13 men could have seen the game go completely away from us.
“Games will smack you in the face at various times but it’s how you respond to that is what matters and today was a really important win for us.”
It means that Gloucester are unbeaten in their last five away games, a feat which they have not achieved since November 2006.
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Despite their defeat, Saracens remain in second place in the Premiership after picking up two bonus points but they could lose ground on unbeaten leaders Leicester, who face Wasps on Sunday.
The bonus points were scant consolation for Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall, who was unhappy with his side’s efforts.
He said: “We are massively disappointed and it pains me to say it but Gloucester had more energy and appetite for the fight.
“They were tremendous today and it’s a club on the up who showed terrific spirit.
“We were off today and our ill-discipline gave them too many opportunities to use their driving line-out, which was a huge weapon for them.
“It’s a big lesson for us today but we’ve now got a week off so we’ll have a think about what happened and hopefully learn from it.”
