Two penalties by the Welsh number 10 either side of half time dragged Gloucester to within four points and with 16 minutes left Sharples produced a moment of brilliance as he defied the enveloping defence with a 30m dashdown the touchline.
Right about now is the time when Wall Street strategists and economists begin ratcheting down GDP estimates and tempering their optimistic year-beginning calls with a dash of bitters and a dollop of doubt.