Most English rugby seasons start the same way; warm sunshine, plenty of hot air from Leicester's rivals and a terse response from the Tigers hierarchy along the lines of, 'C'mon, then, if you think you're hard enough.' Over the past four years, few challengers have come even close.
Yesterday lunchtime, though, was markedly different, despite the glorious East Midlands weather. The team manager Dean Richards cannot remember a pre-season injury list as lengthy as the one which grips his squad right now and 10 back-line players will miss Saturday's tough-looking warm-up against the French champions Biarritz in Bayonne.
Among the more notable absentees are the internationals Geordan Murphy, Leon Lloyd and Rod Kafer, who all may be missing for a month, plus the centres Ollie Smith and Glenn Gelderbloom, hamstring and calf-muscle injuries respectively, and the wing Steve Booth.
"It's the worst injury crisis I've known at the club," said Richards, "It makes us apprehensive going into this weekend's game because we don't want to pick up any more injuries."
Before Leeds, their first league opponents, get carried away ahead of Saturday week, however, the Tigers' more illustrious forwards look to be in better shape, on the eve of another daunting campaign, than they have for years. Those tempted to write the international epitaphs of Martin Johnson and Neil Back might be encouraged by the increasing glints of grey in Johnson's hair but otherwise the two England captains, at 32 and 33 respectively, remain as committed as ever.
Johnson, in particular, has spent his longest summer break in recent memory anticipating questions about his chances of starting next year's World Cup and swats them away much as a buffalo would do an irritating insect.
"You can't compare when you were a 24-year-old amateur training twice a week. I'm 32 not 22 but there's young guys walking around with niggles and older guys who are fine. You've always got to prove something, even on the training field. You don't get to where you get without personal pride. There are always second-rows trying to knock you off your perch.
"If I didn't think I was good enough I'd say to Clive Woodward, 'Don't pick me.' I'm not going to go out there for the sake of going out there. If I'm not good enough to play any more I'll walk away. I don't think that time is now."
Back, who lasted only a week before putting his jogging shoes on and heading out of his front door for a long run this summer, is another advert for the powers of rest accompanied by a strict training and dietary regime. "I honestly be lieve age is like size, it doesn't come into the equation. The pressure for all players is the same every year. I've never thought, 'Oh, this is going to be an easy season.' There's a lot of people in this country who want to pull on the England jersey.
"I watched England win in Argentina on television and if I hadn't already been training I'd have started there and then."
Austin Healey is equally keen to get cracking, having been promised the prolonged run at fly-half which he believes will make him a more complete all-round player. He has, accordingly, been working hard on his kicking but Richards concedes there are a growing number of clubs capable of preventing the Tigers securing a fifth successive Premiership title.
"This year we're more concerned about more teams than ever before," admitted Richards, who is even considering signing a player on loan to help him through the early weeks. For now, though, Leicester must rely on the youthful likes of Adam Billig, Sam Vesty and John Holtby to plug the gaps and trust normal service is soon restored.
