Opposition view: Gloucester 'far from perfect' in success against Saints

But Ackermann was relieved to get a first win on the board as his men secured a 27-16 victory at Kingsholm.

Tries from Ahsee Tuala and Courtney Lawes were not enough for Saints as efforts from James Hanson and Charlie Sharples were added to by the boot of Billy Twelvetrees for Gloucester.

Danny Cipriani shone for the hosts, with his fantastic long pass setting up the crucial try for Sharples just before the break.

Gliucester certainly didn't have it all their own way, especially after the interval, but they managed to grab the four points and stop Saints gathering a losing bonus point.

And Ackermann said: “Danny (Cipriani) is backing himself in training, and it worked for him here. All the players have a license to play what they see.

“We didn’t speak (to Cipriani before he signed for Gloucester) about goals and where we want to be, we just said we want this club to be competitive, to play exciting rugby and to improve, and Danny was excited when he looked at the squad.

“He believes his way of playing will suit my philosophy, and he is excited to give it a go. So far, so good.

“I’m relieved to get the first one out of the way. The first one is especially nervous because you train for six or seven weeks in pre-season and you can’t take anything much from the warm-up games.

“There’s so much rugby left this season we don’t want to get carried away but it was a good start.

"However, it was far from perfect so there’s still a lot of work to do.”