There was a long period on Saturday afternoon, with Leicester trailing to London Irish, when it looked as if they might have been going back to Welford Road, and the scene of a recent 41-41 thriller.
Around the Kingsholm fringes the rather bizarre consensus, given that Leicester might be stumbling a little but they are not yet exactly allowing all-comers up unmanned ladders into their fortress, was that that might be better than going to Vicarage Road, where they lost 35-12 only a fortnight ago.
“I’m happy going there,” head coach Bryan Redpath said of the trip to Vicarage Road after beating Sale 68-17. “We under-performed last time, but this will be the fourth time we’ve played them this season and we’ve won two [home wins in the League and the LV Cup] and they’ve won one.”
It will certainly be a clash of styles. As Gloucester demonstrated here with 10 sumptuous tries, they seek a game with width.
And you would do with Charlie Sharples and James Simpson-Daniel on the wings, and the pace of Henry Trinder at outside centre. That trio bagged six tries between them on Saturday, with a hat-trick for Sharples. And the all looked fantastically sharp, all the while shepherded by the muscularity of Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu inside.
But Saracens will be all pragmatism and efficiency. And they will defend manically, something Sale conspicuously did not do here, as they conceded seven second-half tries.
“That’s an indication of how far this club has dropped,” said executive director Steve Diamond, “Thirteen or 14 of those players won’t be at Sale next season and we didn’t come down here with the right mindset.
"I don’t expect to come down here and get a hiding like that again. I’ll bite my lip, get out of here and have a month off. Then we’ll regroup and stop this spiral downwards. It is possible to turn things round quickly. The team and coaching staff are already in place for next season.”
Charlie Hodgson will not be with Sale, though, joining Saracens next season, and it was rather sad to see him bow out in such a supine team performance. “He has been a stalwart of the club and didn’t deserve that,” said Diamond.
Hodgson tried and tried, as he always does. Indeed he and half-back partner Dwayne Peel were excellent in an opening quarter when Sale did at least ask some questions.
Gloucester were a little sloppy, but then their scrummage and driving line-out found their fire, and Sale simply did not fancy it. It was one-way traffic after Rory Lawson’s opening try.
There was even time for sentiment. Also bowing out for Gloucester was Hodgson’s opposite number, Nicky Robinson. His excellent passing game was again a huge factor in the ever-present threat of Gloucester’s back-line, and he even crossed himself before departing to a moving ovation.
He is off to Wasps, and Gloucester might miss him more than they realise.
