Without Owen Farrell, Saracens faced a significantly tougher challenge than this as the season progressed, but life without the former England captain began almost ideally. After 16 years as a pivotal player, it's inevitable that Farrell's influence will be missed this season—they could have used his reliable right boot here, perhaps his relentless professionalism towards the end—but five tries and an impressive performance from Elliot Daly helped Mark McCall usher in the new era he is determined to build.

Gloucester, who finished second-bottom last season, did little to suggest it will not be another season of turmoil. They were far too accommodating for their new-look opponents, who scored through Rotimi Segun, Ivan van Zyl, Tobias Elliott, and two for Andy Onyeama-Christie. A brief flurry when the match was already out of reach added a bit of respectability, but not much more.

Both Vunipolas have left, and McCall opted to start with Jamie George and Ben Earl on the bench, adding to the sense of change in the Saracens squad. In Daly, they had the standout performer. He set up two tries and linked well with Fergus Burke, the 25-year-old Kiwi making his debut at fly-half. Maro Itoje, another England stalwart who has taken over the captaincy, was another fine performer, while McCall is particularly excited about the development of Onyeama-Christie, and it's easy to see why based on this evidence.

For Gloucester, much of the pre-season optimism has dissipated. They, too, have undergone a summer makeover, and while Saracens' changes are more pronounced due to the personnel they've lost, Gloucester have a new, all-Welsh half-back partnership in Tomos Williams and Gareth Anscombe and an intention to play aggressively. They also have Christian Wade in their ranks, someone who will excite the crowd whenever he gets near the ball, and a first league start for Afolabi Fasogbon, tighthead for England's World Cup-winning U20s, for whom there are high hopes given England's lack of depth in his position.

Accordingly, they started quickly—forcing Burke into a poor pass early on—but soon ran out of ideas. Saracens are relentless in defense, and in the opening 15 minutes, they neutralized the home side, scrambling when necessary or holding firm on the gain-line with Itoje delivering a fearsome tackle. The visitors had threatened through Segun a minute before his opening try; his grubber was too heavy, but when Daly kicked, his boot was perfectly measured for his winger to gather and score.

Try No 2 came when Van Zyl intercepted Anscombe far too easily and had enough pace to reach the line before Elliott added a third with Daly again the provider. It was hard to see a way back for Gloucester, but Burke's two missed conversions gave them a faint hope. After battering away at the Saracens line on the stroke of half-time, Freddie Thomas squeezed over to score for the Cherry & Whites.

Whatever hope they had did not last long. An inability to gather Saracens' kick-off for the second half proved costly—George Skivington will be furious as a result—and soon enough Onyeama-Christie scored from a driving lineout. A Burke penalty extended Saracens' lead to 20 points, and though Freddie Clarke scored for Gloucester shortly after coming on, Onyeama-Christie had his second after a smartly taken lineout from George, straight to van Zyl.

Burke continued to refine his goalkicking with another three points before a late rally from Gloucester brought tries from Jack Clement and Seb Blake. You suspect that had Farrell been playing, Gloucester might have found those last two scores harder to come by.