The mood at Kingsholm is changing. Gloucester do not want to be — well, truth be told, they have never wanted to be — also-rans in the Guinness Premiership. Since the play-off system began in 2002, they have been top of the table at the end of the regular season three times, including last season, but silverware has remained in short supply.

They play some of the most attractive rugby in the country, they encourage English talent and last season their backs registered 50 tries, more than any other Premiership club. But they cannot be — and players and coaches acknowledge this — always a work in progress, there has to be some tangible reward for them and for their faithful supporters.

During the summer they have recruited quite specifically so that they can make that next, elusive step forwards. “Olly Barkley and Greg Somerville are people we want to influence and challenge some of the things we are doing,” Dean Ryan, the head coach, said. “We are moving quite well as a side but Olly will give us more options, a different way of playing, while Greg gives us an addition among the senior players. We will get massive value from his All Blacks environment.”

This is quite a load for two individuals who have first to settle into their new situation, Barkley after seven years at Bath, Somerville after more than 100 games with the Crusaders from Canterbury, southern-hemisphere rugby’s most successful Super 14 side. It may be that Somerville’s role will prove the more important, in that he is a prop with more than 50 All Blacks caps to his name and it is set-piece domination that has sometimes escaped Gloucester.

But at 30, the international part of Somerville’s career is probably behind him now and he can devote all his energies to Gloucester’s cause. The same is hardly true for Barkley who is still trying to settle into a regular role with England after 23 appearances, the first as a teenager against the United States seven years ago; there is a sense of a player needing a new role in which he can convince club and country of his quality.

That he was picked at inside centre, the position in which he has spent most of the past three seasons, for the first international with New Zealand in June and then spent most of the rest of that tour playing fly half is typical. “Flitting between the two is great for skill development and understanding but there are considerable differences in space and time, you need to play No 10 regularly,” Barkley said with a wry grin.

“Inter-changing during a game is not a problem, I would go in as a first receiver nine or ten times a game, but playing fly half the whole time is different in terms of preparation. You are the primary indicator for where the team goes on the pitch.”

Barkley has moved to Gloucester as a centre, the position he will contest with Anthony Allen, capped twice by England a couple of years ago. “We will change some of the things Olly does but we have been very reliant on Tins \ to be playing, and there has been a huge amount of emphasis on Ryan Lamb and Ant being there every week,” Ryan said.

“Over nine months, we now have options, we can react better to any restrictions placed on us by England’s elite player squad. There are three or four combinations we can put out in the back line whereas we hardly had more than one before.” In this respect, the recruitment of another international, Matthew Watkins, the Wales centre, is also significant.

“He’s a classic outside centre of the kind you just don’t see much any more,” Ryan said. “I think we can help him enormously, he’d become frustrated by being pigeon-holed in Wales.” As Gloucester have come to understand, the demands of the English season mean that any championship contenders have to have at least two top-class performers in any one position and the arrival of Barkley and Watkins bolsters their free-running backs.

“I do see this as a new start in many ways,” Barkley said. “I have learnt a lot in the last seven years, I’ve done a lot of things right and a lot of things wrong. I scored 1,500 points for Bath but I haven’t scored one for Gloucester yet so I need to prove myself. You can’t jump straight from A to D, if this \ isn’t right, there will be no England.”

The wrist injury he suffered in New Zealand has left Barkley doubtful for the start of the season, which includes next weekend a return to his old stamping ground at Bath. Gloucester will also miss their international back-row forwards, Gareth Delve and Akapusi Qera, recovering from injuries but will hope the restoration of James Forrester, who missed the entire 2007-08 season, goes a long way towards filling the void.

Club information:

Head coach: Dean Ryan Captain: Mike Tindall Website: www.gloucesterrugby.co.uk Address: Kingsholm Stadium, Kingsholm Road, Gloucester, GL1 3AX Telephone: 01452 300951 Tickets: 0871 8718781

Squad:

English unless stated

Internationals IN CAPITALS

Forwards -

OLIVIER AZAM (Fr, 10 caps); MARCO BORTOLAMI (It, 67); ALEX BROWN (3); Peter Buxton; GARETH DELVE (Wales, 9);ALASDAIR DICKINSON (Scot, 5); JAMES FORRESTER (2); Jack Forster; ANDREW HAZELL (7); WILL JAMES (Wales, 4); Ross McMillan; LUKE NARRAWAY (5); CARLOS NIETO (It, 26); AKAPUSI QERA (Fiji, 13); GREG SOMERVILLE (NZ, 64); ALASDAIR STROKOSCH (Scot, 6); ANDREW TITTERRELL (5); Dan Williams; Nick Wood; Dave Young (Scot).

Backs -

Jack Adams; ANTHONY ALLEN (2 caps); IAIN BALSHAW (35); OLLY BARKLEY (23); GARETH COOPER (Wales, 37); Mark Foster; Ryan Lamb; RORY LAWSON (Scot, 12); Dave Lewis; OLLY MORGAN (2); Dan Norton; Charlie Sharples; JAMES SIMPSON-DANIEL (10); MIKE TINDALL (56); Henry Trinder; LESLEY VAINIKOLO (5); Willie Walker (NZ); MATTHEW WATKINS (Wales, 18).

Fixtures:

Sept 7 Leicester (H)

Sept 13 Bath (A)

Sept 20 Harlequins (H)

Sept 26 Sale Sharks (A)

Oct 1 Newcastle Falcons (H)

Oct 4 London Wasps (H)

Oct 11 Biarritz (H)

Oct 19 Cardiff Blues (A, Millennium Stadium)

Oct 25 Newport Gwent Dragons (H)

Oct 31/Nov 1/2 Newcastle Falcons (A)

Nov 16 Saracens (A)

Nov 21 Bristol (H)

Nov 29 Northampton (H)

Dec 6 Calvisano (A)

Dec 13 Calvisano (H)

Dec 20 London Irish (A)

Dec 27 Bristol (A)

Jan 3 Saracens (H)

Jan 11 Newcastle Falcons (A)

Jan 16/17/18 Cardiff Blues (H)

Jan 23/24/25 Biarritz (A)

Feb 14 Sale Sharks (H)

Feb 21 Harlequins (A)

Feb 28 Bath (H)

March 7 Leicester (A)

March 14 London Wasps (H)

March 22 Worcester Warriors (A)

March 28 London Irish (H)

April 4 Northampton (A)

April 18 Worcester Warriors (H)

April 25 London Wasps (A)