Tindall craving Munster-esque kick-start

Gloucester captain Mike Tindall has told his team-mates it is high time they shook off their nearly-men tag and delivered the goods this season on all fronts.

Gloucester captain Mike Tindall has told his team-mates it is high time they shook off their nearly-men tag and delivered the goods this season on all fronts.

Having finished top of the Guinness Premiership for the last couple of seasons the club were unable to redress their miserable play-off record and ended both campaigns empty-handed.

The Cherry and Whites have only once lifted one of the game's three biggest prizes in the last 30 years, the domestic cup in 2003.

And with their Heineken Cup campaign getting under way this weekend, Tindall has admitted there would be no better way for his team to end their famine than by clinching the most prestigious trophy in club rugby.

“We don't enjoy getting so close but oh so far and we don't enjoy sitting top of the Premiership and then not winning it,” the centre said.

The same also applies to the club's Heineken Cup record, which has seen them get beyond the quarter-finals just once, in 2001.

It was a similar story last season, when they stormed through the pool stages but proved toothless in their quarter-final defeat to eventual champions Munster.

And it is the example of the Irish province Tindall cites when he insists Gloucester are not forever destined to be rugby's bridesmaids.

“We just need to win something, get that win like Munster did in 2005,” he explained.

“Munster were the so-nearly men for a long time and then they finally cracked it and now they've moved on.

“I'm hoping it's going to be similar for us. I think if we can win something like the Heineken Cup, it will really kick-start us.”

In previous seasons, Gloucester's failures have been excused by a youth policy which has seen them blood some of the most exciting talents to emerge on the domestic stage – but Tindall insists the time for such excuses is over.

“We have had a young squad for the last couple of years and we've allowed the younger players to develop,” he said ahead of their opening Pool game against Biarritz.

“This year, we've got a great squad, the best squad we've had, and we should really be competing for a lot of silverware.

“The disappointments that we've had in the last year and the year before make it every bit more exciting when we get round to it again.

“It's probably the biggest trophy you can win in club rugby at the moment.”

Gloucester will be expected to progress from a group which also contains Cardiff Blues and Calvisano, but Tindall is taking nothing for granted.

“Our group is not easy. You don't know what you're going to get with Biarritz at the moment; Cardiff are a solid team – they try to play rugby and they play it well; with Calvo, if you don't turn up on your game, they've got the potential to turn you over,” he continued.

Powerful runner Tindall also has extra incentive to perform this season, with a British and Irish Lions place up for grabs next summer in South Africa.

Injury robbed him of the chance to go on both to 2001 and 2005 tours and with Head Coach Ian McGeechan confirming he will be watching the Heineken Cup as closely as the Six Nations when it comes to selection, expect the England centre to be on top of his game this weekend.

“I'm desperate to make it next year but my first priority is playing well for Gloucester,” he said.

“Everything else good that happens will come from that.”