Brad Barritt back in the England running as Saracens pour on the power to demolish Gloucester Freddie Burns has also suffered at fly-half, and there was little doubt here that Owen Farrell was the man in possession, and also the man with all the confidence. Jonny May, the Gloucester wing, may well make the England starting line-up next month, but Saracens" David Strettle, the Aviva Premiership's top try scorer as he added another here, certainly has his justified proponents. "He's been playing well all season," Mark McCall, the Saracens director of rugby, said of the 30-year-old. It all depends which route Stuart Lancaster wants to go down. If he wants to go a bit younger, then David won't get a look in. Is he playing well enough to be included? Of course he is. Then there is the question of Billy Twelvetrees. The Gloucester man is England's incumbent at inside centre, but it would be stretching a point to state that he is secure in that position. And here he was pitted against Brad Barritt, England's No 2 in last year's Six Nations and back for his first start after long-term injury. Unsurprisingly, despite being paired for the first time with Marcelo Bosch - "we only had two or three training sessions together," said Barritt - it was Barritt who showed up best as Saracens raced to a 19-0 first-half lead with three superbly constructed and taken tries. For Brad to produce that level of performance having had 30 minutes of rugby in five months is quite something. "I thought he was outstanding," McCall said. I think even after 65 minutes he put in one thumping tackle on Billy Twelvetrees that I remember. He was brilliant. He passed the ball really well, too, and the combination with Marcelo Bosch in midfield was really good. He did indeed pass the ball decently, as did Farrell in creating the third try for the impressive Alex Goode, but is Barritt really what England are seeking as they wrestle with their midfield conundrum? The word is that Lancaster is considering Twelvetrees and Luther Burrell, of Northampton, as a potential partnership, but that is not to say that Barritt has been totally forgotten. He has certainly been in regular contact with Lancaster. "I was fortunate enough to go in for a couple of days in the autumn," Barritt said. I popped in every Monday to keep in touch and chat about a few things. Yeah, I've been well connected with the England team. "It's also part of the mantra there, it's "one team, one country."" And Saracens" togetherness was evident here too. They were 26-3 up around the hour mark when they lost both Billy Vunipola and captain Steve Borthwick to the sin-bin, but they still defended for their lives and did not concede a point. In fact they won that little period 3-0. They even won a scrummage penalty when Barritt stepped in as emergency flanker. "You know, one scrum, one penalty," laughed Barritt. You've got to do whatever you have for the team. It's important here at Sarries that we stick together. McCall described that scrummage as his "moment of the match" and it was certainly a telling piece of collective desire that summed up the feebleness of Gloucester's efforts. That tale of the impotence of their front five has been told for most of the season, but it was horribly related again here on a wet surface. All good rugby things stem from a forward platform. "It's always the case, particularly on a day like today," Nigel Davies, Gloucester director of rugby, said. When Saracens start to put the squeeze on you, they are very accurate in what they do, and they know how to pressurise sides. We knew what was coming. We did not deal with it. Saracens are now back at the top of the table and, though they lost the home fixture at Wembley earlier in the campaign, they can travel to Toulouse in the Heineken Cup this weekend with a genuine chance a famous win. "We are in a good place at the moment," McCall said. That is not to say we are going to win next weekend, but we will go there expecting, rather than hoping, to win.