A CONVERSION from fly-half Tim Taylor in the final minute gave a scratch Gloucester side the bonus-point win they needed to send them through to the semi-final of the LV= Cup after a topsy-turvy game at the Stoop against Harlequins.

It looked as if Gloucester would go out despite scoring the tries they needed for the bonus point, as they trailed 29-24 with seconds remaining.

But a try from full-back Tom Voyce drew the Cherry and Whites level and Taylor added the extras which meant the visitors moved above Llanelli at the top of Pool Two.

Earlier scores from James Simpson-Daniel (2), Tim Molenaar and Taylor, who went home with a personal tally of 11 points, were enough to see the Cherry and Whites home.

With 25 minutes on the clock Gloucester were 20 points down and had a man in the sin-bin – hooker Darren Dawidiuk.

All the momentum was with the home side with Nick Evans running riot and the Cherry and Whites falling off tackles.

So quite how they went in at 20-14 at half-time was a mystery.

Back to the full compliment, it was from a simple line-out move that Gloucester's first response came, a fine scoot down the touchline from Simpson-Daniel after a midfield move involving new centre Lesley Vainikolo and a well-timed pass from Voyce.

Taylor, on his first start, slotted from the touchline to make up for an earlier missed penalty and Gloucester were off and running.

So was Taylor, who scored the second himself just before the break after a Voyce break and a carry from captain Luke Narraway.

Quick ball saw Taylor step though the defence, beat Mike Brown easily and slide in for what he made a seven-pointer.

That was the 37th minute, and Gloucester could have led at the break after Taylor broke again and tried to find a supporting Andy Hazell but the pass was intercepted.

Had the former Nottingham man looked the other way, Vainikolo was in space and would surely have finished it off.

All this after Quins had ripped their visitors apart in the opening 20 minutes.

Evan had already landed a penalty when lock James Percival was credited with the score from a series of drives after a five metre line-out in the eighth minute.

An Evans conversion was followed by his first try, beating Will James in the defensive line easily and stepping a poor attempted tackle by Voyce.

With Dawidiuk in the sin-bin, Evans scored again on 25 minutes, finishing off a move started by number eight Tom Guest, and it all looked pretty bleak for Gloucester.

But as the second-half started, the arrears were introduced to six points, increased by an early Evans penalty.

A yellow card for Quins replacement lock Tomas Vallejos, seven minutes into his debut after coming on at half-time, gave Gloucester the advantage at the start of the second 40, but they crucially failed to take advantage of it.

Olivier Azam knocked on over the line after a driven line-out in the best of the chances in the 52nd minute.

Another Evans penalty nudged Quins further ahead, before Gloucester produced a fine score on 62 minutes to bring themselves within seven points.

Voyce broke clear from a fine Taylor pass and was tackled by Brown 10 metres out, before popping to Simpson-Daniel for his second.

Evans' third penalty of the second-half put his side 10 points clear with 10 minutes to go, but there was still time for a fourth Gloucester try, Molenaar showing superb strength to barge over, Taylor missing the conversion

That left Gloucester five points down but they had another score in the locker, Voyce going over after a series of phases on the Quins line and Taylor made himself a hero with the conversion in the final act of the game to win it.

Harlequins: M Brown (capt); R Chisholm, G Lowe, J Turner-Hall, J Drauniniu; N Evans, K Dickson; C Jones, M Cairns, J Andress; J Percival, L Stevenson; C York, N McMillan, T Guest. Reps: C Brooker (Cairns 50), A Croall (Jones 64), J Johnston (Andress 50), T Vallejos (Stevenson 40, yellow card 47/57), L Wallace (York 63) S So'oialo (Dickson 54), W Luveniyali (Evans 74), O Lindsay-Hague (Drauniniu 64).

Gloucester: T Voyce; J Simpson-Daniel, T Molenaar, L Vainikolo, S Tadulala; T Taylor, D Lewis; P Capdevielle, D Dawidiuk (yellow card 16/26), R Harden; A Eustace, W James; P Buxton, A Hazell, L Narraway (capt). Reps: O Azam (Hazell 16/26, Dawidiuk 48), Y Thomas, G Somerville (Harden 70), A Brown (James 70), A Satala (Buxton 57), A Williams (Lewis 68), N Robinson, E Fuimaono-Sapolu (Vainikolo 68).

Referee: S Davey (RFU)

Attendance: 9,732