Saints' pack had done the hard work by holding Gloucester's attempted rolling maul in its tracks. There was space behind though spotted by Peter Richards, whose chip was deliberately batted into touch by James Pritchard. Mercier kicked for goal from just outside Saints' 22, and given his success record this season it was a surprise to see the ball sail left.

The strong wind that had helped keep Mercier's attempt out was no doubt a factor four minutes later when Carlos Spencer took a shot at goal from fully 55 metres. But it drifted right, and with Pritchard's miss a minute later the match remained scoreless at the end of the first quarter.

One minute - and six scrums on the Gloucester line - later though and Saints were awarded a penalty try. The home front-row had had their West Country counterparts in all sorts of trouble from the outset, and as one penalty-turned-scrum after another dug up the pitch, referee Dave Pearson decided enough was enough, in the process denying Mark Easter his first Saints try. Pritchard converted and Saints were deservedly seven points up.

Five minutes later and all the hard work was undone. Perennial scourge of the Saints, Terry Fanolua twice crashed into the home defence, the second time being pulled down a metre short of the goal line. Nevertheless, Peter Richards was on hand to nip over and with Mercier's conversion, the visitors were level. And they could have been ahead just past the half-hour had the Frenchman not missed a penalty from an identical position to his first attempt.

But seven-all was how it stayed until the break, although a couple of high tackles on Spencer could quite easily have resulted in penalties in kickable positions.

It had taken 21 first-half minutes for the opening try. With Spencer's beautifully floated pass to Bruce Reihana two minutes after the break however, Saints were nearly over again. The Gloucester line was split, but the defence scrambled enough to make Jon Clarke knock-on a couple of metres short. But with a fierce midfield tackle forcing a Gloucester turnover, and Reihana then Pritchard's kicking ahead bringing about a five-metre scrum, the pressure was still on the visitors.

Like the first half, a series of scrums were awarded - again some from penalties - and the parallels continued as Saints were awarded their second try. This time Easter was credited with the score, and with bodies scattered all over the place it was credit to the youngster that he managed to ground the ball successfully. Pritchard again converted, but the seven-point advantage was reduced to four three minutes later by Mercier's first successful penalty.

Indeed, the Cherry and Whites could have gone ahead, only for a superb covering Clarke tackle on the flying Mark Foster. And Clarke was again in the right place at the right time, popping up to collect Jon Goodridge's spill of Sam Harding's clever chip to score. Reihana converted, and with Mercier's second penalty the lead was eight with 10 minutes left.

Spurred on, Gloucester launched a series of attacks and Saints were fortunate when Spencer's decision to attempt an intercept 10 metres out came off. Clarke was in support, but the chasing James Forrester caught him on halfway and the chance went.

Easter's sin-binning did not help Saints' cause, leaving as it did no specialist number eight on the park. Replacement Paul Diggin made the weight as a temporary flanker, but it made no difference and the Gloucester pack's charge was rewarded by a penalty try, converted by Mercier.

The one-point margin meant that the capacity crowd was treated with yet another gut-wrenching finale, and with the visitors' pack now in the ascendancy hearts were very much in mouths. But Saints held on - somehow - and recorded one more priceless Premiership win.

Northampton Saints - Pritchard (Diggin 59mins); Rudd, Clarke, Quinlan, Reihana (capt); Spencer, Robinson; Smith (Emms 57mins), Richmond, Barnard (Budgen 40mins), Damien Browne, Gerard (Lord 40mins), Tupai (Fox 49mins), Harding, Easter.

Gloucester - Goodridge (Thirlby 63mins); Bailey (Garvey 68mins), Fanolua, Davies, Foster; Mercier, Richards (Thomas 69mins); Wood (Forster (54mins), Elloway (Parkes 54mins), Sigley, Pendlebury (Eustace 63mins), Brown, Buxton (capt), Hazel, Narraway (Forrester 49mins).

Northampton Saints - Tries: Penalty, Easter, Clarke; Cons: Pritchard (2), Reihana.

Gloucester - Try: Richards, Penalty; Cons: Mercier (2); Pens: Mercier (2).