I COULD not be happier at kicking the season off with a win.

In memory, it is the first time we have managed a victory on the opening day of the Premiership season.

I have a feeling this will be a season for firsts.

The brutal pre-season schedule and tough friendlies have ensured we are ready to take on anyone in the top-flight.

Sale Sharks certainly put that to the test early on, coming at us with attacking wave after attacking wave.

Our defence held strong, save for giving away a couple of kickable penalties, but we were in the game.

The first few minutes allowed us to find our feet slightly and then our confidence grew.

Man-of-the-match Matt Mullan and Tevita Taumoepeau turned the screw on the Sale scrum and created a dominant platform from where we could build our game.

It was a real pleasure to see the Sale management scrambling reinforcements from the bench, only for them to suffer a similar punishment to their peers, and concede a long-anticipated penalty try.

These performances from our forwards will be key to us having success this season.

There will be tougher tests to come.

Kai Horstmann and James Percival had good games too, both offering themselves up to carry hard all afternoon.

The backs looked pretty sharp when given half-a-yard to attack.

There were good line breaks from Andy Goode, Errie Claassens and Alex Grove but we only managed to finish once from quite a few chances.

Scrum-half Shaun Perry ran the game superbly and his enthusiasm could be felt around the ground.

I think, to best summarise, we are very happy to win but not overly happy with our performance. Our defence was again our best attribute.

Not to concede a try when under such pressure is something we can be proud of.

Dale Rasmussen set the tone with a crunching hit early on.

When we played with the ball, we created chances but were then turned over a little too easily and allowed Sale back into the picture.

What is fantastic is we are creating things and holding onto the ball — being clinical will come.

This weekend we look forward to returning to Kingsholm and facing our West Country rivals once more. The last time we met, circumstances were very different.

It was the last game of the 2009/10 season, we had been confirmed as relegated and Gloucester pipped us 23-22.

How circumstances change!

We travel down the M5 full of confidence.

The cherry and whites will be hoping to put things right after a last-minute loss at Northampton.

We know Kingsholm will be a cauldron and they would love nothing more than to send us back with our tails between our legs. The challenge has been laid down.

I am sure our travelling support will be as loud as ever in their attempts to drown out the shed. You can do it!

It promises to be a good week with an improved performance on Saturday.

All that remains is for me to thank those who came to watch against Sale, the atmosphere was incredible!