Toulouse have won their last 12 matches at home in the Heineken Cup against English opposition, but the Gloucester head coach, Bryan Redpath, is confident his side has the ability to pull off the surprise of the opening round in what will be Mike Tindall's first outing as a former England player.

Wasps were within a late kick of winning in Toulouse a year ago at a time when they were not making an impact in the Premiership, but Gloucester are fourth and secured an away victory at Exeter last weekend.

"Toulouse are the best side in the history of the tournament," said Redpath. "There will be a low expectation of us and the players should not be worried or frightened. We have to have an edge about us and put them in unpleasant places through our mindset. We cannot think it will be nicey-nicey. We will need a real team spirit. We have to trade on our underdog status, pushing ourselves for the whole 80 minutes. They are at the top of the French league, but they have been scraping wins without playing particularly well. We have to make it a contest."

It is four years since an English club last won the Heineken Cup, a task that is becoming more difficult every year with French clubs awash with deep-pocketed owners, and Irish and Welsh sides able to keep their players fresh because there is no relegation from the RaboDirect Pro 12. "Toulouse probably spend €25m (£21) on their rugby environment every year and in the Premiership there is a salary cap of £4.2m," said Redpath. "That would suggest you are going to struggle to match them for consistency year in year out and that is why you have to take your hat off to Leicester who have fought tooth and nail with the Clermonts, Leinsters and Munsters.

"Teams in the Celtic League are able to mix and match, but in England you need depth to compete in both the Premiership and the Heineken Cup. English rugby needs to settle down and have a rethink about where it wants to go. How does it get better?"

The Gloucester full-back Olly Morgan, who last week signed a new contract, will be facing Toulouse for the first time. "It is a great opportunity for us," he said. "People will write us off because of our away form and it is probably the hardest place to play in Europe.

"The World Cup did not go well for England, but everyone is back into the Premiership and the Heineken Cup and there is no hangover from New Zealand. We have to look forward to the next World Cup and once everything is sorted out with the coaches, we can start looking to the future."

Toulouse v Gloucester 3pm, Sky Sports 1