Humphreys lauds Gloucester effort

Gloucester director of rugby David Humphreys said his side's effort in victory over La Rochelle was "unbelievable" as they won in France.

Victory saw the Cherry and Whites progress into the Challenge Cup final as Billy Burns' crossing proved crucial against the Top 14 leaders.

"The effort out there was unbelievable," Humphreys said after the win.

"I’m delighted for everyone at the club and at long last we got a bit of luck and turned one of those tight games our way. So much of what we planned today came off. The first 40 and 50 minutes were great but then the last 30 minutes were about guts, determination and character.

"To defend the way they did against what is a hugely physical team, talking to a couple of players it was one of the hardest games they have played in. I’m absolutely thrilled for everyone at the club to have won and reached a European final."

Burns scored all of Gloucester's points but the team effort was commendable from the English side, with Humphreys adding: "So many times we’ve talked about the small margins and we’ve talked about the small things not going in your favour and it’s almost felt like we’ve been making some excuses.

"Tonight we’ve got a lot of what we tried to do right and we had that bit that you can’t coach, we showed the spirit and the determination and the bench that came on closed the game out."