Owen Farrell rushed away from Saracens to become a dad - and missed the Londoners deliver a seven-try Champions Cup masterclass.
The England captain had hoped to take his Anglo-Scottish Six Nations heartache out on Glasgow at Allianz Park.
But he was forced into a change of plan when wife Georgie went into labour with their first child - a boy - leaving Saracens 45 minutes to implement Plan B and get the job done without him.
“Owen’s wife went into labour on Friday night,” said boss Mark McCall. “And at half eight this morning he was pretty confident it would all happen - but it didn't.
“He phoned me at half past two saying ‘in the next half hour’…. I said 'Owen, the game starts at quarter past three!”
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Such disruption would have floored a lesser team but the English champions cooly shuffled their resources - then powered towards a semi-final date with Munster.
Fullback Alex Goode ran the game from fly-half despite not having trained in the position all week. Liam Williams moved to 15 and scored two tries, Dave Strettle took his place on the wing and bagged two more.
Oh, and Alex Lozowski, pressed into emergency goalkicking duties, responded with nine out of 10 for a 21-point haul.
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“To beat a team by 57 points in a European quarter-final says you're not a bad team,” said McCall. countering Glasgow counterpart Dave Rennie’s sour observation that Saracens are a set-piece to set-piece side.
“He’s had a bit to say about us this week, but you take away the first minute and the last minute and they don't have many points at all.”
This was a performance to alarm Munster, 17-13 winners over Scotland’s other last-eight representatives Edinburgh.
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England hooker Jamie George led the way with a man of the match performance featuring a try and two assists.
Glasgow had hoped for so much better after taking the lead in 68 seconds when Stuart Hogg and Rory Hughes combined to put Ali price over.
But that was as good as it got for Hogg whose wayward kicking out of hand allowed Saracens to roar back and lead 22-13 at half-time.
This time there was no epic Scottish comeback, as there had been at Twickenham a fortnight before. Once in front Sarries mercilessly turned the crew.
Williams and Strettle scored their second tries, George and Nick Tompkins then followed them over.
"We were way under par and we got pumped,” conceded Rennie. “That’s what happens at this level. You’re a couple of cogs off and you can get embarrassed.”
The one dark cloud for Saracens was the loss at the death of captain Brad Barritt to what looks a serious ankle injury.
SARACENS - Tries: Williams 2, Strettle 2, Barritt, George, Tompkins. Cons: Lozowski 6. Pens: Lozowski 3.
GLASGOW - Tries: Price, Horne, Fagerson. Cons: Hastings 3. Pens: Hastings 2.
