Former Edinburgh favourite Greig Laidlaw kicked 14 points as the Premiership team overcame the sending off of centre Bill Meakes to beat Edinburgh in the European Challenge Cup final at The Stoop last night.

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The Cherry and Whites were in command at 19-6 up in the 64th minute when French referee Jerome Garces, acting on the advice of his television match official, dismissed Meakes after replays showed he had caught Sam Beard with a high, off the ball, tackle.

Gloucester were briefly down to 13 men, with Ross Moriarty already in the sin-bin, and Edinburgh, laying siege to the English club’s line, saw Scotland hooker Ross Ford plunge under the posts for a converted try.

But Gloucester had scrum-half Laidlaw, who spent seven years at Edinburgh before moving south, in fine form with the boot and skipper Billy Twelvetrees ran in a try for them to hold on.

Gloucester’s victory gave them their first trophy since the 2011 Anglo-Welsh Cup and was their second Challenge Cup success after they beat London Irish in another Stoop final eight years ago.

Gloucester are now set to go into a play-off with a Celtic League side next month, possibly against Edinburgh, with the winners of that game facing the seventh-placed French Top 14 club for a spot in next season’s elite European Champions Cup.