Gloucester- who beat London Irish 36-34 in the 2006 Amlin Challenge Cup final - found themselves 13 points adrift when the Irish swooped for two tries in three minutes early in the second half.

Sailosi Tagicakibau had given the home side a dream start with their first try after just two minutes and when Halani Aulika and then Anthony Watson breached the Gloucester defence it looked as if London Irish could go on and make it 13 wins from their last 14 home tournament matches.

But those two strikes galvanised Gloucester into action with replacement prop Dan Murphy taking just six minutes to celebrate coming off the bench with their first try before the Burns show resumed with the No10 in fine form.

His 73rd minute penalty was his fifth of the match and came after he had added both conversions to bank four more points and leave the Irish with just the consolation of a losing bonus point.