One way to beat Gloucester is to kick accurately to the corners and expose what most Guinness Premiership teams believe is a flaky lineout. Then punch holes close to the ruck because they like to defend wide and not commit numbers. That was the game plan, but Saracens could not stick to it.

Gloucester, who temporarily went six points clear at the top after this win, with Leeds Carnegie to play this weekend, were unrecognisable from the team blown away up front by Munster the previous weekend in the Heineken Cup quarter-final. Saracens were a different side from the XV who defeated the Ospreys.

Dean Ryan, the Gloucester head coach, put down much of the change in his players to the way they reacted to the different interpretations at the ruck of the referees, Nigel Owen, of Wales, and Rob Debney, the English official.

Alan Gaffney, the Saracens director of rugby, said: “I can’t explain it. We went out with a simple game plan and didn’t adhere to it. They kicked the ball better into the wind, better than we kicked the ball with it.”

For all Gloucester’s flourish, they looked brilliant only when capitalising on opposition errors. The first four tries came from Saracens turnovers or other untimely mistakes.

Scorers: Gloucester: Tries: Simpson-Daniel (14min), Qera (19), Lamb 2 (43, 46), Vainikolo (61), Lawson (65). Conversions: Lamb 3. Penalty goal: Lamb (40+3). Saracens: Tries: Powell (80+2), Skirving (80+5). Conversion: Ross. Penalty goal: Jackson (26).

Scoring sequence (Gloucester first): 7-0, 12-0, 12-3, 15-3 (half-time), 22-3, 29-3, 34-3, 39-3, 39-10, 39-15.

Gloucester: W Walker; I Balshaw, J Simpson-Daniel (rep: J Adams, 80+4), M Tindall, L Vainikolo; RLamb (rep: C Paterson, 19-26), R Lawson (rep: G Cooper, 69); N Wood, A Titterrell (rep: O Azam, 48), C Nieto (rep: J Forster, 48), M Bortolami (rep: Paterson, 80+8), A Brown, A Strokosch, A Qera (rep: W James, 73), L Narraway (rep: G Delve, 40).

Saracens: D Scarbrough; R Haughton (rep: RPenney, 74), K Sorrell, A Powell, K Ratuvou; G Jackson (rep: G Ross, 67), N de Kock (rep: M Rauluni, 56); M Aguero (rep: J Visagie, 74), M Cairns, Visagie (rep: C Johnston, 48), H Vyvyan (rep: I Fullarton, 72), T Ryder (sin-bin, 64-76), K Chesney, D Barrell (rep: D Seymour, 53), B Skirving.

Referee: R Debney.

Attendance: 12,300.