With the All Blacks still celebrating their success at New Zealand 2011, it may seem a trifle early to look forward four years, but those who have already anointed Owen Farrell as the fly-half to take England into the next World Cup may now be revising their estimates for his arrival in Test rugby.
Whether it will be in the No10, 12 or even 13 shirt is another matter, but the 20-year-old is showing the authority and ability to turn big games, as he demonstrated on Saturday in helping rob Gloucester of their two-year unbeaten home record.
After scoring 28 points the previous week, Farrell converted all four of his kicks against Gloucester to add to an already impressive 82% success rate in the league this season. More importantly, he also had the vision to spot a rare chink in Gloucester's defensive armour and the skill and calm to thread a kick through the midfield traffic for Brad Barritt to chase.
Only the video referee could say for sure whether the centre had beaten the Gloucester scrum-half, Rory Lawson, to the ball, but Saracens were celebrating long before Farrell completed his work with the conversion to give the champions the lead for the first time and with only five minutes to go.
Twenty minutes earlier, Farrell had taken over the goal-kicking from Charlie Hodgson, the former England fly-half being replaced after just one scruffy attempt at goal, and for the final 13 minutes of the match Farrell was allowed to run the show, Hodgson having been replaced by a winger, Joe Maddock.
The young pretender was far too diplomatic to say which position he preferred, but when he is first receiver, things tend to happen with greater regularity than when he is played wider out. On Saturday, after games at inside-centre, he was started one further out, although the Saracens director of rugby, Mark McCall, suggested that might not always he the case.
Asked which position he saw Farrell playing, McCall rather confusingly replied "I think both", before going on to suggest that Hodgson at fly-half and Farrell at inside-centre is his preferred formation. "I think Charlie and him combine really well," McCall said. "I think that [Farrell at fly-half] will happen from time to time, but Charlie is a good decision maker.
"To have Charlie and Owen is pretty luxurious," said McCall, who was less than convinced about other aspects of Saracens play, even though they did end Gloucester's run of 22 home league games unbeaten.
"Owen goes from strength to strength, but overall, as a team performance, we have to do a lot better. We talk about performance all the time and today was not one of our best."
All of which may be a little harsh on Gloucester, who played with a great deal of style and authority in the first half and should have turned around more than eight points up. Their full-back, Olly Morgan, scored a try by working cleverly with the centre Henry Trinder, but he butchered another with the loosest of passes.
The head coach, Bryan Redpath, blamed defeat on "dull" penalties given away in the final quarter of the game, but considering the resources available to him, Gloucester continue to punch above their weight. With Dave Attwood, Olivier Azam, Alasdair Dickinson, Paul Doran-Jones and Nicky Robinson all having left in the summer, they are still remarkably resilient up front, where Nick Wood had the Saracens front row in all sorts of difficulties, and decisive in the backs.
In fact, until the departure of the ultra-swift Jonny May with a turned ankle, they certainly had the better cutting edge. But with cool heads like Farrell around to pick up on any mistake, looking good for 60 minutes is not enough.
Gloucester Morgan; Sharples, Trinder (Tindall, 54), Fuimaono-Sapolu, May (Lewis, 58); Burns (Taylor, 54), R Lawson ; Wood, Dawidiuk (S Lawson 58), Harden, James, Hamilton, Strokosch, Qera, Narraway (capt; Buxton, 70).
Try Morgan Pens Burns 2, Taylor 2.
Saracens Goode; Strettle, Farrell, Barritt, Short (Wyles, 51); Hodgson (Maddock, 67), De Kock; Gill, Brits, Nieto (Stevens, 48), Borthwick (capt), Botha (Smith, 51), Brown, Burger (Saull, 65), Joubert.
Try Barritt Con Farrell Pens Hodgson, Farrell 3.
Referee T Wigglesworth (Yorkshire) Attendance 11,949.
