Gloucester's Kiwi fly-half Simon Mannix kicked his side into the quarter-finals of the Heineken Cup at Tre Fontane.

Mannix slotted eight penalties and converted tries by Joe Ewens and Jason Little, but, as Llanelli and Colomiers found, the Romans are not the easy touch at home that they are when away.

Despite being bottom of Pool 5, Roma gave an excellent account of themselves and ran in four tries from Nicholas Martin, Ramiro Pez, Alfredo de Angelis and Luca Corona. Pez added three conversions and a penalty.

After 26 minutes Gloucester were 25-3 ahead and apparently cruising. Mannix was so on top of his game that he even attempted a penalty from his own 10 metre line which fell just short. But then they switched off, perhaps with thoughts of next weekend's quarter-final coming to the fore and the home side rallied.

At one point Roma had cut the deficit to just four points, reducing the West Country side to desperate kicking tactics and arguing amongst themselves.

The Italians were playing the more attractive rugby and showed an enthusiasm for the contest that matched their professional opponents.

But as the game moved into the final minutes, Mannix kept a cool head and slotted his eighth penalty before delivering the telling path that gave Little the winning try.

Roma will consider this a moral victory and a good advertisement for Italian club rugby. They out-scored their opponents by four tries to two, but will be regretting their lack of discipline, which allowed Mannix to make such a significant contribution to his side's tally.

Gloucester were the more streetwise and in the end their experience made all the difference.