Gloucester head coach Dean Ryan says interpretation of the new Experimental Law Variations will determine if Gloucester have a successful season.

The new laws include measures such as being allowed to pull down mauls and a five-metre offside line at scrums.

Gloucester play their first Premiership match at home to Leicester on Sunday.

Ryan told BBC Gloucestershire: "We have to identify what we can do in the first six weeks and make it robust enough to go across eight months."

Gloucester were beaten in the play-off final by Leicester at Twickenham in 2007, and in the semi-finals by the same opposition at Kingsholm in May.

"There may be some strange results at the start but Leicester is a huge game at any time of the season," added Ryan.

"They've had some changes in personnel - they'll have a new 10 for example - but drastic changes can only come over a longer period.

"I expect to see a traditional Leicester side, with good scrum, good set-pieces and very good defence. I'd be surprised if they were far from those core values."