The Westcountry side welcome the star-studded French outfit, who have won the last two editions of the Champions Cup, to Kingsholm as they raise the curtain on this season’s competition on Friday night

Andy Goode believes Gallagher PREM pacesetters Gloucester will ‘relish the challenge’ of springing a surprise against Bordeaux Bègles’ ‘rockstars’ on Friday night – but feels the reigning champions will prove too strong.

The Westcountry side welcome the star-studded French outfit, who have won the last two editions of the Champions Cup, to Kingsholm as they raise the curtain on this season’s competition, with Goode part of the Premier Sports team who will be showing the match exclusively live.

George Skivington’s side started the domestic season with back-to-back victories over Exeter Chiefs and Harlequins before being beaten 38-31 by Leicester Tigers last time out. And former England fly-half Goode is looking forward to seeing how they cope with arguably the toughest test in European rugby.

Goode said: “From a Gloucester perspective, playing the reigning back-to-back champions on your home patch after starting the season really well in the PREM is an acid test for them. It’s a massive challenge they'll be relishing.

“Some of the fans will be potentially a little bit nervous about how good this Bordeaux team are. But, to win the competition, you've got to beat the best teams. And there is no better challenge for Gloucester than Bordeaux. But sorry, Gloucester fans. I'm going to [back] Bordeaux by 15. They have too much power. Gloucester have improved immensely this year and maybe the 4G pitch or 5G pitch will help. Bordeaux don't play on those that regularly.

"But the reality is, you've got the champions coming to town with their squad depth and the rockstarsthat they've got in Maxime Lucu, Matthieu Jalibert, if he's fit, and Louis Bielle-Biarrey and these sort of guys. I can only see a Bordeaux victory."

Top 14 teams have clinched each of the last six Champions Cup titles after Bordeaux’s 41-19 victory against Leinster in last year’s final. In one of two major rule changes introduced for this year’s competition, the bonus point system has moved to the French model, awarded for scoring three or more tries than your opponent instead of simply for scoring four tries.

Another twist will see only the top three teams, instead of four, automatically qualify for the Round of 16, with the remaining four spots going to the four clubs with the highest points totals outside a pool’s top three teams.

Goode said: “With the change in format to the competition this year, all eyes will be on every club all the way to the fourth pool match to see how the seedings end up. Some people want to go back to the old six-game pool stage and work collectively with the leagues.

“What I do like is the bonus point rule. I don't necessarily feel you should be rewarded for scoring four tries but still losing by 30-odd points if that was something that happened. It keeps the game entertaining all the way through.”

Last season, English, Scottish, Irish, and French teams all made it through to the quarter-finals, but Goode expects big things from the Southern Hemisphere representatives this time around.

He said: “Hopefully we're going to see a proper stacked Stormers team from Cape Town with the names they've got, having a real dig at the competition and try and make a real impact. Knowing [head coach] John Dobson and the player pool that he's brought together, I'm excited to see how they go. Hopefully they can get into the latter stages andreally have a dig at the comp.”