LET the games begin! The Premiership launches this weekend with, for most clubs, the usual mix of local derbies and double headers.

At last, say the rugby nuts among us who've looked on in barely concealed excitement as, three weeks ago, the Championnat in France got under way and last week the Championship in this country kicked off.

So soon, question the men we hope are going to entertain us.

The top internationals know that only a year next week the World Cup begins in Auckland and they can't expect much rest before, or indeed, after it.

It will be July 2012 before they'll get to go on anything that remotely resembles a holiday.

As always at this time of the year there's nothing but optimism in the air.

The Premiership has a new sponsor – insurance firm Aviva – and at last week's launch, amid all the back-slapping and stridently confident predictions of increased gates and increased profits, there was also a quiet optimism that the rugby would be good as well.

Although they freely acknowledged that it had required a word in the ears of the referees at the season's mid-point, the Premiership bigshots were proud of the way they had helped turn last season's competition from turgid to thrilling.

New Zealand's exhilarating assault on the Tri-Nations was also fresh in the mind.

Where the All Blacks led, they argued, surely it was not beyond the Premiership to follow?

There are no excuses, then, either for the referees – who've had long enough to get used to the new directive – or for the Premiership clubs themselves.

Sure some of them can, and do complain, that they don't have the spending power of their opposite numbers on the other side of the channel.

Sure new boys Exeter can, and do, point out that they don't have equal access to central RFU funds but not one Premiership club will enter the new campaign in any doubt that, thanks in large measure to the salary cap, on any given day, anyone can beat anybody.

That said, Exeter are favourites to go down. They only clinched promotion with victory in the Championship play-off final against Bristol and, even if they had the funds to bring in some big names, they had neither the time nor the opportunity.

I fear also for the clubs at the other end of the country. Newcastle and Sale get the Premiership ball rolling with a Friday night fixture at Edgeley Park but neither would appear to have the required strength in depth for an attritional campaign that doesn't end until May 7.

At the other end of the table it's unrewarding to bet against Leicester.

The Tigers are reigning champions and they talk a great game too.

Despite losing players of the calibre of Ben Kay, Lewis Moody, Harry Ellis and Lote Tuqiri, they refuse to believe that they're any weaker than they were last year. If self-belief guaranteed titles the rest of the Premiership might as well not bother turning up.

But even a side as self-confident and self-absorbed as Leicester will realise that something is stirring at the Rec.

Bath ruled the roost in the 90s with considerably more swagger than the Tigers of 2010 and now they've acquired a mega-rich new owner in Bruce Craig, a state-of-the-art training facility at Farleigh House, a wily director of rugby in Ian McGeechan and the England captain Lewis Moody.

With Simon Taylor also arriving to complete a back-row that with new captain Luke Watson, oozes class, footballing ability and experience, Bath look ready to take their bitter rivalry with the Midlanders to another level.

But, sign of the times perhaps – or a sign that this is World Cup year – there have been no marquee signings that might significantly alter the balance of power in the Premiership.

Those clubs that have been able to identify and nurture their own young English talent should thereforecome to the fore.

That means Northampton – with Ben Foden, Courtney Lawes and Chris Ashton – and Saracens – with Alex Goode and Andy Saull – should again be well-placed.

And so should Gloucester, with the likes of Freddy Burns, Charlie Sharples and Dave Attwood all poised to repay the faith shown in them.

Of course, injuries take their toll, the luck of the bounce is cruel and it's always dangerous to make predictions. But, it's not beyond the bounds of possibility for Gloucester to make the play-offs and Bath to snatch Leicester's crown.