Northampton on collision course with Gloucester as season opens with a bang | Robert Kitson

Saints, the Premiership champions, face big-spending Gloucester in season opener as 2015 World Cup beckonsIt is sometimes easy to forget how far club rugby union has travelled. A mere 20 seasons ago the game was still stubbornly amateur and West Hartlepool and Orrell were shoulder-to-shoulder with Englands elite sides. European club rugby had yet to be invented and the relegated stragglers in the 10-team Courage League of 1994-95 were Northampton, with promoted Saracens replacing them.Compare and contrast as the 2014-15 Premiership season prepares to kick off at a gleaming Franklins Gardens on…