Dean Ryan has managed to keep the majority of last season's squad

Head coach Dean Ryan is calling for Gloucester to cut out last season's errors in the Heineken Cup.

The competition starts this weekend, when Gloucester play their first game at home to Pool Six top seeds Biarritz.

Ryan told the BBC: "We've got to prove to ourselves that we can be more consistent in the high pressure games.

"When we've looked at our mistakes in the past Europe has highlighted them. For us to show progress, we have to show it in the Heineken Cup."

The equivalent of football's Champions League has a new seeding system this year based on the history of the tournament.

The 24 teams are split into four tiers ranked on previous performance, with one team from each tier going into each group.

Gloucester reached the quarter-finals last year but, as a second-tier team, Ryan knows they face a real scrap to make the knock-out stages.

"We think Olly Barkley will help us," he said, "as will Greg Somerville when he gets here.

"Sometimes our game has been a bit too adventurous for European rugby and we've had to modify that.

"The simple things have to be right. We like to think we have moved on and the next few months will illustrate whether we have or not."