GLOUCESTER boss Nigel Davies probably saw everything he wanted to see in the last game of the season against Exeter, except for the result.
With the pressure off, the Cherry and Whites produced some scintillating rugby in storming back into the game at Sandy Park, before losing to a last-minute penalty from the excellent Gareth Steenson.
It gave Davies a glimpse of everything that's right and everything that's wrong about his side all in one afternoon of rugby.
Inconsistency has plagued Gloucester all season and represents the major challenge they face.
It may not mean fireworks every week, but if that base performance bar can be raised to consistently high, therefore few defences in the league will deal with the Gloucester runners.
At Exeter, the Cherry and Whites were stunned in the opening salvos, going 18 points behind before they started playing any rugby. You simply cannot do that against the top teams and it took something special to drag it back.
That something special was very encouraging. The best teams in the league have struggled at Sandy Park this season and Gloucester showed them how it's done with a spectacular ten minutes which flipped the game on its head. If only they weren't so far behind to start with.
Exactly how Davies achieves that consistency is a tough one to answer, but that's why he is employed as a top-level coach.
I would say you can either do it through recruitment of solid, consistent players or by getting those you already have to add it to their games.
The young Gloucester backs are a case in point, and I treat them as a group when I say this. It's great to see them tearing defences apart, but until they are making 100 percent of their tackles, catching every crucial ball and making every crucial pass, they can't reach that next level.
In this department I would say Billy Twelvetrees is the shining light.
It's no coincidence that the former Leicester man has been the one to make the international breakthrough, because his performances have maintained a high level all season.
If the rest of the back line can start to match those levels every weekend, we can start to see some true momentum build next season.
SAM WAS NOT MY CHOICE BUT I HOPE HE RISES TO THE LIONS CHALLENGE DID Warren Gatland get it right? Well, the Lions boss made some selections I didn't agree with, particularly in picking Sam Warburton as his captain, but I'm happy to support the man in the job. I've said before my choice was Brian O'Driscoll as skipper, but I hope Warburton (left) rises to the challenge and leads the Lions to a rare victory. Elsewhere, I was pleased to see the door was opened to Jonny Wilkinson and I'm intrigued to know whether that would have been at the expense of or alongside Owen Farrell. Either way it shows a certain flexibility in Gatland's thinking which is important as a coach. Picking the players in form is what the Lions is all about, which means being prepared to leave out those you may have had in mind all season. From a Gloucester point of view Billy Twelvetrees' name was being bandied about but otherwise I don't think there can be too many complaints. Many of the squad will be in the prime of their careers by the time the next Lions tour comes around, and with a bit more international experience I would expect to see the Cherry and Whites better represented then. IT'S THE PUMAS NOT THE LIONS IN OUR BOYS' SUMMER PLAN While there may be no Gloucester representative on the Lions tour, I would expect several to go on the England trip to Argentina. I'm always a bit concerned about these tours when the best players are away with the Lions, but it is an opportunity for those left behind to step up. It's a good piece of planning to be going to Argentina instead of South Africa or New Zealand. Too often this tour sees England go off and get spanked and lose all momentum ahead of the next season, but while Argentina represent tough opposition, these are games that can be won by what will be more of a development team. Freddie Burns, Jonny May, Charlie Sharples (above), Billy Twelvetrees and Ben Morgan can all expect to go on the tour. The likes of Henry Trinder among others also have an outside chance, so it should be a good one to follow for Gloucester fans. I hope they all produce the type of performances that make them difficult to leave out when the Lions players return next season.