Gloucester can continue to dream. This 10-try bonus-point victory, secured by half-time against unbelievably ragged West Country rivals, maintains their hope of the playoffs in what promises to be a fiendishly close finale in the top-four race. Nothing less than five points would have done, realistically, after Northampton’s nerve-jangling win against Harlequins on Friday. But this was sheer destruction, and Gloucester’s biggest margin of victory in the Premiership.
With third-placed Harlequins facing two difficult matches, against Gloucester themselves then Exeter, anything is possible. Having lifted themselves into fifth, a point behind Saints, the Cherry and Whites will carry confidence from an astonishingly one-sided derby triumph.
