Bath coach Jon Callard has delivered a shuddering eve-of-season message to England's Zurich Premiership elite, claiming: ``Leicester are streets ahead''.
The English club game launches a new-look league campaign tomorrow, complete with play-offs, bonus points and three Australian World Cup winners imported from Down Under.
But Callard believes the basic ingredient of that mouthwatering recipe - not forgetting Frenchman Thomas Castaignede and top-flight rookies Rotherham - could remain untouched.
In taking the last two Premiership titles, winning 40 and losing just seven out of 48 matches, Leicester have set remarkable standards.
A hat-trick now beckons for the Tigers, leaving Callard, who collected league, cup and European honours as a Bath player, predicting another mighty effort from Martin Johnson's men.
Bath were runners-up last term, but an eight-point gap between themselves and Leicester - and a 43-25 defeat at Welford Road on the season's final weekend - underlined Tigers' dominance.
``We got well and truly trounced by Leicester that day,'' said Callard, whose career as Bath head coach, in succession to England's Andy Robinson, begins at Sale tomorrow.
``Leicester are streets ahead - they've got a great pack, and their backs don't get the credit they deserve.
``It is going to take a very good side to pull them back to the Premiership pack.''
If pre-season form means anything - and it hardly ever does - then there is hope for Callard and company.
Leicester lost to Ulster in Omagh, and were then comprehensively beaten by Welsh-Scottish League champions Cardiff at the Arms Park.
``The warm-up games have been useful in highlighting areas we have to work on, and we've done so in training this week,'' said Tigers manager Dean Richards, ahead of tomorrow's televised opener at Wasps.
Leicester will rely largely on their heroes of the past two seasons, a quiet
summer's transfer activity producing just two major purchases - St Helens rugby league star Fereti Tuilagi and Canadian World Cup wing Winston Stanley.
Wasps boss Nigel Melville watched Cardiff cut loose last Saturday, but won't let his Tetley's Bitter Cup holders be lulled into any false sense of security.
``The Cardiff game didn't tell me much really, because Leicester didn't play very well,'' Melville said.
``It will be a totally different team that we play this weekend - I am sure that Leicester will be wanting a performance against us.
``They are a fantastic side, with lots of experience and lots of power.''
Leicester apart, Melville has had a batch of early-season injuries to worry about.
Skipper Lawrence Dallaglio (groin), hooker Trevor Leota (broken leg), fly-half Alex King (shoulder) and unsung back-row warrior Peter Scrivener (knee ligaments) are all sidelined from the Loftus Road clash.
Melville hands a league debut to ex-Saracens pivot Matt Leek, with Joe
Beardshaw, Paul Volley and Joe Worsley teaming up in the back-row.
Like Wasps, Bath have their share of injury troubles. Young player of the year Iain Balshaw and American international Dan Lyle are definite non-starters against Sale.
But Jeremy Guscott could return, despite playing just 30 minutes' rugby since retiring from the Test match arena during England's failed World Cup campaign last autumn.
Guscott, who celebrated his 35th birthday six weeks ago, underwent groin surgery after that tournament and then endured a lengthy rehabilitation period.
But a place on the bench at Heywood Road is possible, given that Mike Tindall and Kevin Maggs are currently Bath's first-choice centres.
``There is a good chance that Jerry might be in the squad for Saturday,'' Callard said.
``He has done very well in training, getting involved in all the physical stuff on Tuesday, and it is looking good.
``Jerry has done everything that has been asked of him,'' added the coach.
Feelings could be running high at The Stoop tomorrow when revamped Harlequins tackle their former tenants London Irish.
Irish claim that Quins kicked them out of that ground-sharing arrangement a year early - the Exiles have relocated to Reading's Madejski Stadium this season - setting up a full-blooded battle.
Quins welcome back Ireland captain Keith Wood from his season's sabbatical with Garryowen, while Wood's fellow British Lion Will Greenwood has also returned to Twickenham after quitting Leicester.
Quins must wait for Wallabies flanker David Wilson to complete Tri-Nations commitments before their new captain arrives in London, as will Gloucester, after the capture of Jason Little.
The third Premiership-bound Australian - World Cup player of the tournament Tim Horan - is still nursing a foot injury, delaying his Saracens debut for at least another five weeks.
Saracens, complete with Castaignede, new captain Kyran Bracken, Dan Luger and Duncan McRae, entertain Gloucester on Sunday.
Rotherham, backed by 4,000 full-throated Yorkshire folk at Clifton Lane, make their Premiership debut against Bristol on Sunday, when Newcastle also host European champions Northampton.
In addition to featuring some world-class rugby, the Premiership has a new points system - four for a win, two for a draw and a bonus point if teams score four tries or more.
A bonus point is additionally available for beaten sides, provided they finish seven points or fewer behind their conquerors.
Various law changes take effect - notably, kickers having one minute to take a kick at goal or face the embarrassment of seeing it disallowed, and no line-outs within five metres of the try-line.
Sin-binned players, meanwhile, must now spend their 10 minute cooling off period standing on the opposition's dead-ball line directly between the posts.
After the league programme ends in mid-April, a new play-off competition, the Zurich Championship, takes centre stage, culminating in a Twickenham final.