Gloucester returned to Champions Cup rugby after five years with a 19-14 victory over Castres at Kingsholm on Sunday afternoon.
Gloucester dominated the majority of the encounter but had to survive a late onslaught from the Top 14 side.
It was quite the contrast of styles from the outset with Gloucester intent on controlling possession, maintaining a high tempo and spreading the ball wide, while Castres were more prepared to go from one set-piece to another while playing around the fringes.
The home side dominated the early possession and went into the lead courtesy of Danny Cipriani penalty right in front with 10 minutes gone.
The hosts then dubiously had a try disallowed before Castres fly-half Julien Dumora restored parity on the scoreboard off the tee in the 16th minute.
Cherry and Whites pivot Cipriani was beginning to dictate matters with his little chip kicks behind the Castres defence beginning to cause havoc. Having gained the territorial ascendancy in this fashion, the hosts were being kept at bay by the Castres defence and came away with only three points for their endeavours to take a 6-3 lead after half-an-hour.
Castres hit back immediately with a cleverly-worked drop-goal from Dumora after a rare foray up field from the Top 14 side.
But soon afterwards, Gloucester had the first try of the game and deservedly so. After good work in the build-up from Charlie Sharples with a strong carry, Tom Marshall produced the moment of magic with a line break and final offload for Braley on his inside, who ran in under the posts. Cipriani converted for a 13-6 lead as the sides headed into the interval.
It was a more even battle for the first 10 minutes of the second half, but once again the Cherry and Whites took a more commanding grip on the game with another Cipriani penalty with 52 minutes gone.
The pressure was beginning to tell for Castres and it was a mystery as to how referee Marius Mitrea was not reaching for his pocket after another offside offence close to their own try-line gave Gloucester fly-half Cipriani an easy three-pointer for a 19-6 lead with 25 minutes to go.
However, two minutes later, the visitors were right back in it when Martin Laveau dotted down for a neat finish on the right-hand touchline after Woodward had erred by stepping out of the line too soon. Dumora would miss the conversion as it remained 19-11.
The visitors enjoyed the upper-hand throughout the encounter at scrum-time, while they were also winning more turnovers at the breakdown. This, however, only prevented Gloucester winning by a more comfortable advantage as they had the better in the territorial and possession stakes throughout.
Castres were rewarded for their dominance at the breakdown when Dumora made it a five-point deficit with the visitors right back in it with seven minutes to go.
But due to some brilliant defending on their own try-line and a couple of good turnovers, Gloucester managed to hold on for a precious 19-14 victory after a late scare from Castres side who grew more and more into the game.
The scorers:
For Gloucester:
Try: Braley
Con: Cipriani
Pens: Cipriani 4
For Castres:
Try: Laveau
Con: Dumora
Pens: Dumora 2
The teams:
Gloucester: 15 Jason Woodward, 14 Charlie Sharples, 13 Billy Twelvetrees, 12 Mark Atkinson, 11 Tom Marshall, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Callum Braley, 8 Ben Morgan (c), 7 Jake Polledri, 6 Freddie Clarke, 5 Gerbrandt Grobler, 4 Tom Savage, 3 Fraser Balmain, 2 Franco Marais, 1 Josh Hohneck
Replacements: 16 Henry Walker, 17 Val Rapava Ruskin, 18 Ciaran Knight, 19 Todd Gleave, 20 Matt Banahan, 21 Ben Vellacott, 22 Owen Williams, 23 Tom Hudson
Castres: 15 Armand Batlle, 14 Martin Laveau, 13 Robert Ebersohn, 12 Florian Vialelle, 11 Taylor Paris, 10 Julien Dumora, 9 Ludovic Radosavljevic, 8 Alex Tulou, 7 Baptiste Delaporte, 6 Mathieu Babillot (c), 5 Loic Jacquet, 4 Christophe Samson, 3 Paea Fa’anunu, 2 Jody Jenneker, 1 Tudor Stroe
Replacements: 16 Paul Sauzaret, 17 Tapu Falatea, 18 Wilfrid Hounkpatin, 19 Steve Mafi, 20 Yannick Caballero, 21 Yohan Le Bourhis, 22 David Smith, 23 Rory Kockott
Referee: Marius Mitrea (Italy)
Assistant referees: Manuel Bottino (Italy), Gianluca Gnecchi (Italy)
Television match official: Stefano Pennè (Italy)