Greig Laidlaw aims to win Premiership for Gloucester

Gloucester captain Greig Laidlaw has urged his team to push hard for their maiden Aviva Premiership title in the upcoming season.

The cherry and whites jerseys have been on a slide after finishing ninth in three out of the last four seasons of the Aviva Premiership which has also evaded them an opportunity to feature in the European Champions Cup.

Laidlaw, who was announced as the Gloucester captain for the upcoming season said the desire to play the European Champions Cup has always been there but their ultimate goal is to clinch the Premiership.'

"We want to get back into the (European) Champions Cup absolutely, but we are waking up in the morning and going to training because we have the ambition to win the Aviva Premiership.

"That's the mentality we are trying to develop within the squad. We will set ourselves many goals during the season to keep track of where we are, and hopefully these things will add up.

"We are not going to shout about it from the rooftops because we've finished eighth and ninth the last two years. We understand where we are."

Gloucester's 2016/17 season will kick-off with a home game against Leicester Tigers at Kingsholm Stadium. The previous two encounters between the teams last season was a closely fought one with Leicester winning 18-19 and 35-30.

Director of rugby at Leicester Richard Cockerill is satisfied with the progress shown by the club during the pre-season and is hopeful of a better performance this time around.

"We had two semi-finals and two losses, which is disappointing, but I am pleased with how we're progressing our game.

"We have strengthened our squad again - less numbers and more quality, we think, across the board."