GLOUCESTER may have had a week in Tenerife this month but it was no holiday - more of a boot camp.

The club hopes it will lay some of the foundations for a much better season than the last where the Cherry and Whites under-achieved to finish way off the Aviva Premiership play-off places in eighth spot and, as a consequence, missed out on the lucrative European Champions Cup.

A place in the top European competition rather than the Challenge Cup, which Gloucester won in May last year, is the minimum requirement set out by Martin St Quinton when he bought out the Walkinshaw family to own the rugby club last year.

Number eight Ben Morgan, the former Dursley RFC back row, said that injuries played their part in that disappointing season but the team want to get back on the winning horse this time.

The new campaign starts a week on Saturday and Gloucester face a tough baptism to the season with the visit of Leicester Tigers.

Morgan said: “Pre-season has been good. We have had a tough couple of weeks. We have just come back from a week in Tenerife. It has been a really good training camp and I think all the boys are all looking forward to getting stuck into the season.

“Last year, we were unfortunate with the amount of injuries we had and we are still carrying a few.”

The Cherry and Whites play Glasgow Warriors on Friday night in their second warm-up match of the month, having travelled to Dublin last Saturday to play Irish province Leinster where they came away with a 26-24 defeat.

There was promise, though, and Morgan, who got the last of his side’s four tries, added: “Unfortunately, we just came the wrong end of the score but I think we can take a lot of positives about how we play and the shapes and the styles we want to bring into the season.

“I was lucky to sneak over for a try. It is always nice to get one but it was the perfect end to the week and everything we wanted. Now we are looking forward to getting back into games.”

Gloucester will be aiming to do slightly better than the start of last season, which began in October due to the World Cup, where they won two of their first three matches. Two of those wins were against opponents they face this September – Worcester and Newcastle.

Personally, though, the 31-times capped Morgan, who has suffered his fair share of injuries which have included a broken leg and a shoulder problem, was left out of England’s Six Nations Championship squad by new coach Eddie Jones this year, leaving ex-Thornbury RFC number eight Billy Vunipola to seize the number eight jersey and become the Player of the Tournament.

However, Morgan does not want to talk about England at the moment, side-stepping the issue saying: “I would like to have a good season and it is important that we really take in this off season and put it into the new season.”

l Gloucester United will face Saracens in the first A League games of the season on September 12 at Kingsholm.

The will also play Harlequins and Bristol United away and are home to Bath United and Exeter Braves.