It was by no means pretty, but Gloucester scored six tries and conceded only two to head back to Kingsholm with five group points in the locker.

Calvisano were physical and refused to be overrun by their clearly superior opponents on a narrow pitch, which Dean Ryan described as more like 'a runway'.

The hosts' performance was even more remarkable given they spent the majority of the second half with 14 men as first hooker and captain Leonardo Ghiraldini was sinbinned and then, minutes after his 50th-minute return, Nicola Cattina was sent off for a punch on Peter Buxton.

The Gloucester number eight had been a constant threat throughout, scoring a 25th-minute push-over try after a series of scrums on the Calvisano line and then putting Marco Bortolami in on 37 after some good work from Matthew Watkins.

Ryan Lamb had already intercepted to open the scoring in the 11th minute, Olly Barkley converting two of the three tries.

The remarkable travelling hoardes at the Stadio Comunale San Michele by far outnumbered their Italian counterparts and turned the ground into a mini Kingsholm, but it's fair to say there was some concern at the break.

And the second half was not much better, as Gloucester struggled for continuity and the Italians continued to thunder into tackles as if their lives depended on it, Tongan centre Winston Mafi leading by example.

It took Gloucester just three minutes after the turnaround to secure the bonus point after a Mark Foster try, but then they switched off and the Italians got their reward.

Home fly-half Paolo Buso ghosted through the Cherry and Whites' defence and passed for Ludovico Nitoglia to score on 48 minutes.

Cattina had already been given his marching orders when substitute hooker Alistair McKenzie bustled over from close range.

As the 14 men of the Italian side tired, Gloucester's class started to show, embodied by the performance of Mike Tindall, on for Watkins.

Tindall was not happy with the overall performance, but he said: "We've come here, done our job, got our five points and we've got to take away the lessons that we've learned."

A penalty try came for an early tackle, as Narraway looked to feed Foster who would almost certainly have scored.

Tindall then intercepted and showed electric pace to run in from inside his own half, with a comedy dive for good measure over the line.

Tindall added: "I went on to give it a little bit more directness.

"With the pitch being quite narrow, it was hard for us to get the ball out into space for people like MJ (Matthew Watkins), Morgs (Olly Morgan) and Fozzy (Mark Foster) to have a go.

"Whenever you got it out there it was man on ball. I tried just to go forward a bit more and help Lamby out a bit."

This was by no means vintage Gloucester, who allowed themselves to be dragged into a loose, disjointed game, but when the Italians visit Kingsholm next week it could be a different story.

The Cherry and Whites moved up to second in the group, following the Cardiff victory over Biarritz on Friday.

It means another five points in the return leg is just as important, as the likelihood of a huge trip to France in the final group game moves closer.

Calvisano: L McLean, M Stanojevic, W Mafi, D Forcucci, L Nitoglia, P Buso, P Patelli, H Tui, L Ghiraldini (capt, sinbin 40/50), A Moreno, L Beccaris, C Treloar, M Dal, A Zanni, J Purll. Reps: A McKenzie (Tui 41), T d'Appice (Ghiraldini 66), N Cattina (Beccaris 53, sent off 57), A Persico (Treloar 73), P Griffen (Patelli 74), G Fraser (Buso 62), M Pratichetti (Stanojevic 40).

Scorers: Tries – Nitoglia, McKenzie. Cons: Buso, Fraser. Pens: Buso.

Gloucester: O Morgan, M Foster, M Watkins, O Barkley, L Vainikolo, R Lamb, R Lawson, A Dickinson, S Lawson, C Nieto, W James, M Bortolami, P Buxton (capt), A Strokosch, L Narraway. Reps: O Azam (Lawson 55), A Eustace (James 74), A Satala (Strokosch 64), D Lewis (R Lawson 47), W Walker (Lamb 74), M Tindall (Watkins 54).

Scorers: Tries – Lamb, Narraway, Bortolami, Foster, Penalty, Tindall. Cons: Barkley (5).

Ref: J Jones (WRU). Att: 3,700