Fly-half Billy Burns was the Gloucester hero as he notched all 16 points for the West Country side in a thrilling victory over La Rochelle in the European Rugby Challenge Cup semi-finals.

Three penalties, a breakaway 70-yard try and a conversion from Burns secured Gloucester a second Challenge Cup final appearance in three years.

In an absorbing contest at the Stade Marcel-Deflandre - against the then TOP14 leaders – scoring opportunities were at a premium in the early going.

Gloucester took an early lead through the boot of Burns before Brock James returned fire with two successful penalties of his own to leave the score deadlocked at 6-6 heading into the interval.

After Burns added his third penalty of the contest 15 minutes into the second half, the fly-half intercepted an errant James pass inside his own 22, scampering the length of the field to extend the visitors’ lead to 10 points after adding the conversion.

That score ignited the French outfit who replied with a try of their own 10 minutes later. Some brute force from the La Rochelle forwards powered the ball over the whitewash – replacement lock Damien Lagrange touching down.

A string of missed place-kicks from the usually reliable James on his 50th European appearance – first missing the conversion before narrowly nudging a long-range penalty kick wide with five minutes remaining – meant that the English side would cling on for a famous success.

Gloucester went on to face Stade Français at BT Murrayfield in the 2016-17 final, a match they would lose 25-17.

With Gloucester Rugby and La Rochelle set to do battle in the Last 16 of the Heineken Champions Cup in just under a fortnight, we have taken a look back in time at their European Rugby Challenge Cup semi-final clash from 2017.