Saracens booked their place in next season's Heineken Cup after beating Gloucester and become the final English team to make the grade.
The Watford club won the Zurich Wildcard final after surviving a late fightback by their West Country opponents.
Despite going 6-0 down early on, tries from Hugh Vyvyan and Ben Johnston put Sarries 17-6 ahead at the break.
But the Cherry and Whites refused to give in and two tries in six minutes from Brad Davies and Adam Eustace brought them back into the game.
They then threw everything at Saracens but a fine individual try from Tevita Vaikona late on sealed victory.
Saracens coach Steve Diamond hailed the dawn of a new era.
"The Heineken Cup is where teams and players are judged," he said after the match
"Making the Heineken Cup is key: the European Challenge Cup is a secondary event and we don't want to be thought of as second rate," he said.
"We are moving into new training facilities on 1 June and we are a club that is going forward."
But Gloucester director Nigel Melville blamed injuries for a disappointing end to the season.
"We were never quite there and it summed up the second half of the season for us," he said.
"Injuries have hit us badly and we have had to rely on young players.
"We were sixth in the league and there are six English teams in the Heineken Cup - unfortunately, one qualified as winners of the Powergen Cup."