By Jason Harris
November 1 2006

Gloucester ended Saracens' seven match unbeaten run as they secured 19-8 victory at Kingsholm in a scrappy Round 9 Guinness Premiership fixture, outscoring the Men in Black by two tries to one. The home side was completely transformed from the one beaten by London Irish following the return of captain Phil Vickery who led from the front as the Glaws pack battled and harrassed the visitors into a flurry of mistakes which, ultimately, led to many unforced errors that were Sarries' undoing.

Glaws outside half Ludovic Mercier won the battle of the boot, but he did miss three attempts at goal during the match; both conversions from wide out and a second half penalty attempt that hit the post.

However, Gloucester always seemed to be on top, even during a second half that Sarries played mainly in opposition territory, such was their ferocity in the tackle and togetherness and competitiveness as a side.

Mercier opened the scoring on five minutes with a short-range drop goal which was equalised by Jackson. Jackson then turned from hero to villain as it was his speculative pass inside his own 22 that found nobody in particular and Gloucester pounced to turn over the ball. Right wing Mark Foster then went on a mazy run leaving several Sarries in his wake on his way to the left hand corner.

Mericer added a penalty just before the end of the first half and just as Sarries pressurised the home try line, the Frenchman picked off a short pass from Jackson to Vaikona and raced 70 metres before drawing the Sarries cover and giving the scoring pass to former Saracen James Bailey to race in at the right hand corner.

Sarries looked a little more purposeful in the second half and despite going behind 19-3 courtesy of a second Mercier penalty, they managed to cross the line towards the end of the third quarter; Matt Cairns being the beneficiary of a well-worked overlap following several quick phases of recycled ball, but Jackson fluffed the conversion.

Despite still being in the hunt for a bonus point deep in injury time and deep in the home 22, they - either through their own ineptitude or Gloucester hard work in defence - could not score again.

SCORERS: Gloucester: Tries: Foster (19min), Bailey (40+3). Penalty goals: Mercier 2 (40+1, 48). Drop Goal: Mercier (5)
Saracens: Try: Cairns (55). Penalty goal: Jackson (17).

SCORING SEQUENCE (Gloucester first): 3-0, 3-3, 8-3, 11-3, 16-3 (half-time), 19-3, 19-8.

GLOUCESTER: O Morgan; M Foster, T Fanolua, A Allen (rep: B Davies, 80+7), J Bailey; L Mercier, H Thomas (rep: S Amor, 78); N Wood (rep: G Powell, 74), R Elloway (rep: J Parkes, 78), P Vickery, A Eustace (rep: Q Davids, 65), M Cornwell, P Buxton, A Hazell, A Balding (rep: L Narraway, 76).

SARACENS: D Scarbrough; R Haughton (rep: B J Russell, 38), M Bartholomeusz, K Sorrell, T Vaikona; G Jackson, K Bracken (rep: A Dickens, 67); K Yates (rep: N Lloyd, 53), M Cairns (rep: A Kyriacou, 80+2), B Broster, S Raiwalui (rep: K Chesney, 53), I Fullarton (rep: S Armitage, 67), H Vyvyan, D Seymour (rep: B T Russell, 60), B Skirving.

Referee: S Davey.

Attendance: 10,516.