They will now face local rivals Worcester with a final place at stake after eclipsing the French side with a combination of excellent finishing and good adventure in a one-sided quarter-final.

There were two tries each for James Forrester, the number eight, who relished the freedom afforded to him from the base of the scrum and Peter Richards, who made a successful return after a knee injury.

Gloucester gave an exciting glimpse at the future with three of England's Under-21 backs with Ryan Lamb making his senior debut at stand-off, Anthony Allen in the centre and Olly Morgan at full-back.

"I was delighted for Ryan," head coach Dean Ryan said afterwards. "I thought he gave us great shape and confidence and considering it was his debut, he did really well.

"We are a young side but the potential long-term dividends are huge in 12 to 18 months time. But these guys are demanding to be selected now, which is what we are doing.

"I thought we when played with pace and adventure, we looked a handful."

It was not a flawless performance by any means but after three straight defeats, it will do much for the confidence and development of the team.

Lamb's first penalty after three minutes set them off and Forrester grabbed the first try when he picked up from the base of a scrum to use his strength to score to the left of the posts.

It was exactly the cushion Gloucester required early on and after 20 minutes, they scored again. Alex Brown got up at a Brive line-out to heap plenty of misery on his opposite number and when he charged through to steal possession, his flick found Mark Foster and he put Forrester away to score again.

When Gloucester kept their tempo up and when they played with pace, Brive struggled to get into the contest. Lamb combined a couple of sparky breaks with a mixture of long and short-range passes, while the Kingsholm set-piece was much more stable.

Patrice Collazo had a very influential afternoon in the rough areas and although Maxime Petitjean kicked penalties in the 24th and 30th minutes, Gloucester's lead was never threatened.

They scored again after 36 minutes when Forrester's outstanding take at a line-out set-up a big drive and Richards darted past two defenders to score to extend Gloucester's lead to 22-6.

And right on half-time, Gloucester went in for their fourth try. They kept possession well before Lamb sent a long pass across the Brive defence for James Simpson-Daniel to pick out a brilliant inside pass to Mike Tindall, who scored close to the line.

The second half was more of the same. Gloucester dominated throughout, without ever really turning on the after-burners. They could, and perhaps should, have caused even greater damage but Richards got the ball rolling with his second try after 44 minutes when Gary Powell sent him over following a line-out.

Andy Hazell was the next to benefit when Haydn Thomas, now on for Richards, and Lamb combined before the openside plunged to the depths to score and extend Gloucester's lead to 39-6.

Gloucester always looked like they could create problems in the wide areas as Brive tired against the tide and Simpson-Daniel grabbed their seventh try when he pushed his way past a number of defenders from 30 metres and gas his way to the line.

Brive had hardly threatened and Gloucester will be disappointed not to have added to their tally but the visitors did manage a score when replacement Yves Donguy scooped up a loose ball and had enough pace to get the better of Hazell to the line.

But it was too little too late and Gloucester can celebrate a step closer to a knockout final appearance.