News

Preview: Bristol v Saracens

September 30 2008

Pivot Adrian Jarvis returns to basement side Bristol's line-up to face Saracens on Wednesday as Richard Hill shuffles his backs and makes two changes up front.

Jarvis missed out on the trip to Newcastle last week because of injury but returns at fly-half to face the Men in Black with Ed Barnes moving back to inside centre and Luke Arscott returning to his usual full-back berth.

In the forwards Mariano Sambucetti and Alfie To'oala, who both started against Sale in the last game at the Memorial Stadium return in place of Roy Winters and Matt Salter.

And Head Coach Richard Hill admitted that his team will be relying on the home factor on Wednesday to gain what would be a priceless, morale-boosting win.

"We're hoping that the home atmosphere will give the players a real lift. It was excellent against Sale and, under lights, created that special atmosphere we get down at Bristol," he said.

"There's no doubt the players responded on that occasion so we hope that the crowd come in full voice tomorrow and the players respond accordingly.

"We've gone back to the side that went pretty well against Sale. We're hoping we can produce the same intensity but improve the performance slightly to clinch a win.

"We haven't clicked as a side yet. There's a lot of hard work gone in so we hope that Wednesday will be when it all comes together. There's a good mood in the camp, there's a positive frame of mind and we're looking forward to it."

Opponents Saracens make just one change to their starting XV as they look to make it three successive wins in the Guinness Premiership.

Back-row Ben Skirving takes the place of the injured Chris Jack for the trip after a shoulder injury forced Jack from the field at half-time in the 26-12 victory over Northampton.

And it has been revealed that although the former All Black is set to have a scan on Tuesday, the injury is not thought to be serious.

Jack will also miss Sunday's EDF Energy Cup match against the Scarlets, however, he could return for the start of the club's European Challenge Cup campaign against Mont de Marsan next week.

Elsewhere, prop Nick Lloyd moves to the bench and Director of Rugby Eddie Jones has also added Noah Cato and Don Barrell to his travelling squad of 24 to the West Country.

"Travelling to Bristol is going to be a tough test and we will have to improve our performance levels once again to get the result we want," said Jones.

"They will fight for everything and we will have to match and better that. In the second half against Northampton, we got stuck in and won the physical battle and that is something we will have to do every week.

"We've been improving game by game and that's what we want to continue. We've been forced into one team change with the injury to Chris Jack but apart from that it's the same team we have selected for the last three matches and it's good to have that consistency.

"All we will be doing is focusing on Bristol. We will look at what is to come later in the week after Wednesday night."

Form: Bristol are struggling of late with a tenth straight Guinness Premiership loss at Newcastle last Friday. However, they won the last time they played on a Wednesday: 16-6 against Bath at Ashton Gate on December 27, 2006. Saracens have won back-to-back matches against Newcastle and Northampton but both games were played at home. They have not won on the road in 2008 since beating Harlequins 27-20 at the Stoop on 22 December 2007. Bristol's only win in their last five clashes with Saracens in all competitions was 18-3 in this equivalent fixture last season. Saracens last victory at Memorial Stadium was 23-11 on October 16, 2005.

The teams:

Bristol: 15 Luke Arscott, 14 Tom Arscott, 13 Neil Brew, 12 Ed Barnes, 11 David Lemi, 10 Adrian Jarvis, 9 Graeme Beveridge, 8 Dan Ward-Smith, 7 Joe El Abd (c), 6 Alfie To'oala, 5 Nathan Budgett, 4 Mariano Sambucetti, 3 Jason Hobson, 2 Scott Linklater, 1 Alex Clarke.

Replacements: 16 David Blaney, 17 Peter Bracken, 18 Robert Sidoli, 19 Andrew Blowers, 20 Haydn Thomas, 21 Luke Eves, 22 Greg Barden.

Saracens: 15 Richard Haughton, 14 Rodd Penney, 13 Kevin Sorrell, 12 Adam Powell, 11 Kameli Ratuvou, 10 Glen Jackson, 9 Neil de Kock, 8 Michael Owen, 7 Andy Saull, 6 Ben Skirving, 5 Hugh Vyvyan, 4 Steve Borthwick (c), 3 Cencus Johnston, 2 Fabio Ongaro, 1 Matias Aguero.

Replacements: 16 Matt Cairns, 17 Cobus Visagie, 18 Nick Lloyd, 19 Kris Chesney, 20 Moses Rauluni, 21 Gordon Ross, 22 Chris Wyles.

Date: Wednesday 1 October, 2008

Kick-off: 19:45 (18:45 GMT)

Venue: Memorial Stadium

Referee: Tim Wigglesworth

Touch judges: Paul Dix, Bob Mullis

Assessor: Ed Morrison

Television match official: Laurie Bryant