Kick-off is swiftly approaching, so it's a pertinent time to tell you how you can follow this one.

There's full radio commentary from BBC Radio Gloucestershire and BBC Radio Northampton by clicking the links above.

And of course, there's live text commentary from BBC Sport.

So without further ado, taking you through Gloucester v Northampton, is Emma Thurston.

Louise Gwilliam
BBC Sport at Kingsholm

Image source, Louise Gwilliam - BBC Sport

Northampton Saints co-captain Dylan Hartley and his side are warming up here at Kingsholm in shirts decidated to Rob Horne, who was forced to retire from rugby.

The teams are being announced at Kingsholm with five minutes until kick-off and it’s Danny Cipriani who raises the biggest cheer from the Shed. They’re certainly behind the new boy after a difficult summer.

"Too much class, too much depth and too much winning experience."

These are all reasons why our panel agree that Saracens deserve to be considered clear favourites to collect their fourth English title. Do you agree with them?

Do you think that Mark McCall's men will prove to be too strong for the rest? Or will another side finish their season by lifting the trophy at Twickenham Stadium?

What about at the other end of the table? Which side do you think will be relegated after 22 rounds of action?

Tell us your 2018-19 season predictions now using #bbcrugby

Image source, Rex Features

Chris Jones
BBC rugby union reporter at Kingsholm

A host of Gloucester legends, including World Cup winning prop Phil Vickery, have just done a lap of Kingsholm to commemorate the club’s 5000th competitive fixture.

Image source, Getty Images

With 76 tries in 22 games and 10 try-bonus points in 2017-18’s Premiership campaign, Wasps have certainly been value for money.

Their pleasing-to-the-eye style, built around some X-factor players such as Willie Le Roux, Elliot Daly and Christian Wade and orchestrated by Danny Cipriani, Dan Robson and Jimmy Gopperth, helped them to the play-off semi finals last term, where the journey was ended by Exeter.

However, this year there’s no Cipriani - now a Gloucester player - and Gopperth is cruelly ruled out for the season with an ACL knee injury. However, All Black stand-off Lima Sopoaga will be available soon after his arrival from Hurricanes. Not a bad replacement.

What will be key for Wasps is maintaining the culture after experienced pros such as James Haskell and Guy Thompson moved on. The arrivals of England back-row Brad Shields and Northampton tight-head Kieran Brookes suggest Dai Young and company have made some smart choices in building the Coventry-based club going forward.

Image source, Getty Images

Well, if the BBC’s rugby union pundits are anything to go by, then it’s the latter for Alan Solomons at Sixways.

Amid the uncertainty over longer-term ownership, Ugo Monye, Matt Dawson and Jeremy Guscott have all tipped them to struggle, against the challenge of Premiership new boys Bristol Bears.

Although some good players have retired (Donnacha O’Callaghan) or departed (Will Spencer and David Denton), England’s Ben Te’o and Kiwi flier Bryce Heem remain and there has been some encouraging recruitment.

Scotland stand-off Duncan Weir is an aggressive type of playmaker with international experience while centre Francois Venter has played for South Africa in the past two seasons.

Image source, Getty Images

Harlequins were one of only two clubs to make changes at the top over the summer, with John Kingston making way for England defence coach Paul Gustard.

It was inevitable in a way, after a miserable campaign ended with Quins sat in 10th place, well away from the Heineken Cup reckoning.

Stalwarts in Graham Rowntree and Nick Easter also left the coaching staff, with Alex Codling arriving to replace the former and Billy Millard named as general manager.

Gustard inherited a decent squad, big international experience in senior pros such as James Horwill, Chris Robshaw and Danny Care added to the youth and vigour of England prop Kyle Sinckler, centre Joe Marchant and the hotly-tipped fly-half Marcus Smith.

There have been some smart signings too. Bath centre Ben Tapuai combines ball-playing with a bit of strike on the edges while Fijian sevens star Semi Kunatani could be a real handful if he can recalibrate for XV rugby.

Image source, Getty Images

After all the excitement of welcoming prolific wing Chris Ashton back to the Premiership this summer, the former Saracens and Toulon flier only went and got himself banned.

Sale’s big offseason signing will spend the first nine weeks of the season checking out the quality of the Premiership’s executive seats, as he watches his teammates set about the division without him.

There wasn’t much movement otherwise, with Steve Diamond bringing South Africa centre RJ van Rensburg back for another stint, while experienced Welsh back-rower James Phillips also arrived.

Although Ashton is a miss, there’s still plenty of stardust about Sale. In particular in Marland Yarde and Denny Solomona - who will compete with their new teammate for wing berths at club and country level.

We've plenty of other matches to preview this afternoon as well as the Gloucester v Saints match.

Let's take a look at how the four teams in the two 15:00 BST kick-offs have been preparing over the summer months.

Image source, Getty Images

Last night, Bristol Bears marked their return to the Premiership with 17-10 victory over Bath.

Pat Lam has been open about their ambitions for the top six and they started their quest for that in the right fashion.

The side, who held a 6-0 lead at the break, had to navigate their way through a sin-bin period in the second half and Bath pressing their hard at the line with the time in red.

The job of replacing Jim Mallinder at Northampton was always going to be a tough task.

Yorkshireman Mallinder established a culture, a method and a style at Franklin's Gardens over 10 years at the helm, but his departure has opened up the doors for a new direction.

Super Rugby winning coach Chris Boyd is the new man in the dugout on the back of last year’s interim boss Alan Dickens, and he has already begun rebuilding a new era.

With Stephen Myler moving to London Irish, the playmaking duties pass onto Wales international Dan Biggar, who could enjoy working with new attack coach Sam Vesty, while ex-Waratahs flier Taqele Naiyaravoro will bring new strike to a side shorn of George North's services out wide.

Whether or not Boyd can replicate his success with the Hurricanes is yet to be seen, but it should be an entertaining journey regardless.

Northampton and Australia centre Rob Horne was forced to retire after suffering life-changing nerve damage to his right arm during his side's Premiership match at Leicester back in April.

Today the Saints are warming up in shirts supporting him and their Round Six Premiership derby against the Tigers will be played at Twickenham Stadium to support him further.

It will will act as a fundraiser for his ongoing rehabilitation costs and to ensure financial security for him and his family, after requests from both Saints and Tigers fans.

Image source, Getty Images

Cynics among the Premiership rugby fraternity might accuse Gloucester of trying to turn themselves into Super Rugby's Lions, notably since Johan Ackermann's appointment as head coach last season.

First of all there was the crest change, which resembles the Johannesburg franchise, and now the influx of Lions players - with Jaco Kriel, Franco Mostert and Ruan Dreyer switching to Kingsholm...

On a serious note, the Cherry and Whites had a decent season last term, making the Champions Cup and reaching the Challenge Cup final in European competition.

They have strengthened well for this season in their bid to avoid finishing outside of the top six for the fifth season in a row.

Danny Cipriani will compete with Owen Williams for the 10 shirt, while the 6ft, 7in ballast of wing Matt Banahan - who swapped rivals Bath for Glos - will give the halves a useful outlet ball on the edges.

Today's match at Kingsholm is not only the start of a new season for Gloucester, it's a landmark occasion for the club as they're celebrating their 5000th competitive match.

There's quiet optimism amongst fans after their summer signings and the prospect of the side progression under the leadership of Johan Ackermann.

Chris Jones
BBC rugby union reporter at Kingsholm

Image source, Chris Jones - BBC Sport

All eyes on this man at Kingsholm today. It was a nightmare August for Danny Cipriani, but there are high hopes around this place that he can spearhead Gloucester into the top four.

Northampton were due to field James Haskell in their back-row but he's been ruled out due back injury. The late change sees Lewis Ludlam starting at blindside and Jamie Gibson coming onto the bench.

Alex Waller will lead the side for the first time as club co-captain with Dan Biggar making his much-anticipated competitive club debut at fly-half.

Image source, .

Matt Banahan and Danny Cipriani will both make their competitive club debuts for the Cherry and Whites this afternoon.

The former, who spent 12 years at their West Country rivals, will form part of a pacy back-three with Charlie Sharples and Jason Woodward while Cipriani links up with Callum Braley in the half-backs.

Image source, .

Replacements: Marais, Hohneck, Knight, Clarke, Polledri, Vellacott,Williams, Hudson.

Right, not long to go til our first game of the day kicks off at 14:00 BST.

Let's have some team news.

The return of the Premiership kicked off with a right old west country battle...

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More on that later... and today's schedule promises plenty of fireworks too.

• Gloucester v Northampton (14:00 BST)
• Harlequins v Sale (15:00 BST)
• Worcester v Wasps (15:00 BST)
• Exeter v Leicester (16:30 BST)

...and tomorrow, it's the champions Saracens, up against the story of last season's Newcastle Falcons.

With a spot of time before kick-off at Kingsholm we're going to run the rule over all of today's protagonists looking at the latest news, their key signings and more.

Image source, Getty Images

Good afternoon and welcome to BBC Sport's coverage of the opening Saturday of the season.

Bristol Bears and Bath kick-started the new term with a bang last night and today eight other sides start the race for the play-offs and the race to find themselves in the big dance at Twickenham Stadium at the end of the season.