The Australian said: "We've turned things around from last year, where we had the lowest number of tries scored in the league to having the highest number of tries this season.

"Our set piece has always been good and we have turned things around in terms of our attacking play, but now we have an opportunity to win some silverware and that's what we all play for - to win things.

"At the start of the season we said we wanted to qualify for the Heineken Cup, which we've done, and become one of the top four teams in England, which we have also achieved.

"The third thing was to win something and on Sunday we have the opportunity to do that in the European Challenge Cup final and that would definitely be the icing on the cake."

It is indicative of the developments made at the club this season that Mike Catt, reinvigorated at 34, was this week recalled to the England squad for this summer's tour of Australia.

Six of the club's up-andcoming youngsters were included in the England Saxons squad for the Barclays Churchill Cup and all will be involved tomorrow.

Catt starts at outside centre on Sunday with Riki Flutey at inside centre and Barry Everitt taking over the fly half position. Nick Kennedy starts with Bob Casey at lock, allowing Kieran Roche to move to the back row alongside Olivier Magne and Juan Leguizamon.

Gloucester have thrust Rob Thirlby into the side after Olly Morgan suffered a fractured jaw and Jon Goodridge underwent shoulder surgery to remove a bone spur.

The 27-year-old's last start was against Bucuresti in January and he has not played at full-back since Gloucester's Powergen Cup win over Bristol in October.

"We have no other options at full-back but Rob Thirlby's attacking flair is ideally suited to this weekend, " said Gloucester head coach Dean Ryan.

"Rob's inclusion maintains our intentions to be attacking and I think it is a very exciting prospect to see him involved in our back line."

Thirlby is determined to make the most of his longawaited chance and bring silverware back to Kingsholm.

"It's unfortunate for Olly Morgan that he got injured when he did but now it's a great opportunity for me . . . I have waited for a chance for a long time and it's fantastic that it will be in a final, in the last game of the season, " said Thirlby.

"Any final is a big occasion and everybody wants to win and do the best they can. It doesn't matter if it's the Hong Kong Sevens, the Premiership final or a European final, we are desperate to win.

"Mike Anthony has kept me in good shape and I am relishing the opportunity."

The topic of conversation with Mike Tindall at Gloucester's training ground is the flowering of youth, specifically the club's 19-year-old fly-half, Ryan Lamb. "The only thing Lamby needs to learn is balance, " says Tindall. "Once he's got that balance to his game I think there's only Dan Carter up there who could touch him."

If there hadn't been an industrial strength lawn mower at work nearby you could have heard a pin drop.

Blimey, Mike, high praise indeed, although you know your grass-clippings, having played with Jonny Wilkinson through from England Under-18 level to winning the World Cup in 2003. Nevertheless, to compare Lamb with Carter . . . golden boy of the All Blacks and scourge of the Lionsf "Yeah, I'd back Ryan to the hilt, because he's something special. I think it's disappointing he's not on one of the bigger [England] tours this summer, I don't understand who's playing better at the moment at 10." You don't see any need to shelter Lamb at this age? "No. He's a talent that's not going to go away for a long time and I think he could take English rugby forward." As it happens Lamb will be wearing an England jersey in June, but in the Under-21 World Cup in France. First he must conclude the season at home, and there is hardly a bigger stage than Twickenham in a showpiece European final.

He and the four or five others in Kingsholm's new-foundfame academy . . . including the 19-year-old inside centre Anthony Allen . . . are being withheld from media interviews by Dean Ryan, the director of rugby. It's the protective treatment once given to Ryan Giggs at Manchester United. But Tindall, at a suddenly venerable 27, can wax lyrical, and does so unreservedly. "Lamby wasn't in the fold at all, really, at the start of the season. The way he's played for England Under-21s and Gloucester in the A league, he earned his place starting the last few matches and he's excelled."

EUROPEAN CHALLENGE CUP FINAL GLOUCESTER v LONDON IRISH Twickenham, 12.15 Live, Sky Sports 2, 12pm