Wednesday 29 April 2015 18:14, UK
Gloucester centre Billy Twelvetrees believes a victory in the European Challenge Cup final against Edinburgh on Friday night will be “a huge bonus” for the club.
Gloucester lie ninth in the Aviva Premiership table after an inconsistent campaign, winning just eight of their 20 fixtures this season.
Victory at the Twickenham Stoop would not only be the Cherry and Whites' first piece of silverware since winning the LV Cup in 2011, but it would also take Gloucester into a play-off against a Guinness PRO12 team.
The winners of this match will then meet the seventh-placed Top 14 team for a place in next season's European Champions Cup.
Twelvetress stresses that getting into the Champions Cup is a real motivation for his side.
"With the up-and-down season we have had, potentially winning on Friday and the play-off system to get into the top tier of Europe will be a huge bonus," said the Gloucester captain.
"Europe has been great for us, to go places and win where we have never won before - and getting a home quarter-final and semi-final on the back of that was crucial for us. To take that momentum into Friday is massive.
"We set our goals at the beginning of the year and one of those was to get silverware."
Gloucester recruited heavily in the summer when David Humphreys was employed as the new director of rugby, bringing in high-profile signings such as James Hook, Greg Laidlaw, Richard Hibbard and John Afoa.
However, Gloucester remain a work in progress under the guidance of Laurie Fisher so Twelvetrees is looking to the future and says it will take time for the team to gel.
"As a new group of players and coaches coming together, we targeted every game as a learning process for us," added the England centre.
"It has been about building momentum, getting to know each other as quickly as we can and getting to know our structure and game-plan. Belief grows off the back of that.
"We have ambitions to be in that top six and top four in a couple of years, and this (European final) is a stepping stone towards that. It's winner takes all on Friday and it will be the same for Edinburgh. These big games are where players have to stand up, and it's where you want to stand up and be counted."
Gloucester's biggest fitness concern for Friday's final is back-row Sione Kalamafoni after he picked up a lower leg injury away to Newcastle last weekend and he has not trained all week.
Humphreys said: "He is working with our medical team and we will see how he progresses. He is the biggest doubt."
Watch Edinburgh v Gloucester live on Sky Sports 1 on Friday from 7pm
