RYAN LAMB heads into tomorrow's Guinness Premiership opener against Leicester admitting he still has plenty to prove.

The 22-year-old Gloucester fly-half has almost become a symbol of his hometown club in recent seasons – plenty of skill, flair and promise but not quite the finished article.

And he is hoping that 2008-09 can be the season when both he and his team silence any lingering doubts about their ability.

Their start to the campaign – tomorrow's repeat of last season's semi-final is followed by a trip to Bath, a home date with Harlequins and an away match at Sale – will certainly offer a few pointers as to how they are likely to perform over the coming eight months.

And Lamb is confident he is ready to answer any questions about his talent and mental strength this term.

"I was quite happy with the season I had last year, but there are obviously things I have got to learn – and hopefully this season I can prove to a lot of doubters that I can play at the big level," said Lamb.

"It's not just me. I think everyone in our team has got stuff to prove. You can't rest on your laurels, and this year, particularly, there are a lot of lads in our squad who want to prove a point.

"But I think we go into this season with a much stronger mentality as a group of players.

"At the same time, I think we have to win something this season – and we have put that pressure on ourselves.

"We know what to expect going into these big games now – I think we understand the pressure and repercussions of not winning.

"If we don't win games like this one at the weekend, then there will still be question marks about us – and I don't want that this year. We all want to go out and prove to a lot of people that we can do it.

"You have to play Leicester at some point, so why not at the start of the season? If we can beat them at home and then beat Bath at the Rec then that's a fantastic start for us."

Lamb has certainly not forgotten two of the matches which have prompted many of the question marks over his – and his team's – ability.

Those are the 44-16 Premiership final defeat 16 months ago and the 26-25 semi-final loss to the same opponents in May, matches which still hurt the playmaker.

"We owe Leicester one from last year and we want to get off to a big start," said Lamb.

"You can't forget about games like that, especially after we were so confident going into it, thinking that we were going to win.

"Leicester are a good side and if you give them a sniff, they will take points – and we gave them too many sniffs last year. They upset us in the final the year before that as well, so we owe them a fair bit this weekend – and I think the boys are going to be up for it."

Gloucester head coach Dean Ryan has not selected any debutants in his starting line-up for tomorrow's match – Heyneke Meyer's first in charge of Leicester – but former Tigers prop Dave Young and ex-Llanelli centre Matthew Watkins are on the bench.

Leicester are without the injured Martin Corry, Lewis Moody, Louis Deacon and Martin Castrogiovanni and the suspended Seru Rabeni, but Toby Flood makes his debut at fly-half.

Gloucester: O Morgan; J Simpson-Daniel, M Tindall (capt), A Allen, L Vainikolo; R Lamb, R Lawson; N Wood, A Titterrell, C Nieto, W James, M Bortolami, P Buxton, A Strokosch, L Narraway. Reps: O Azam, D Young, A Brown, A Hazell, G Cooper, W Walker, M Watkins.

Leicester: G Murphy; T Varndell, D Hipkiss, A Mauger (capt), A Tuilagi; T Flood, H Ellis; M Ayerza, G Chuter, J White, R Blaze, B Kay, T Croft, B Herring, J Crane. Reps: B Kayser, D Cole, M Wentzel, B Woods, J Dupuy, S Vesty, M Smith.