Gloucester v Bristol: Teams

Bristol coach Richard Hill believes the victory over Northampton has given his side the boost they need going into the rest of the season.

Bristol finally recorded their first Guinness Premiership win of the season at the sixth time of asking when they edged out the Saints 14-13.

And Hill feels that has given his players the much-needed confidence boost they need ahead of the derby with Gloucester.

"The players have been superb," said Hill. "They've always kept their faith in themselves and are highly motivated.

"But there's no doubt that there's been a huge sense of relief after last weekend's victory and has lifted the pressure off a lot of peoples shoulders.

Five-pointer

"So, it's been a good week and always much better to talk about winning than losing and gives us a huge boost for a big local derby this Friday.

"Gloucester are one of the best teams in the league and, in the past, when they've played well against us they've put a few points on the board.

"We've had some very close games at Kingsholm and we've been beaten handsomely. Gloucester will probably see this as a five-pointer and we've got to go there and make sure that doesn't happen."

Hill has recalled full-back Luke Arscott and prop Darren Crompton to his side for the match.

Gloucester have made two changes from the side that won at Vicarage Road last Sunday for the visit of Bristol.

Luke Narraway will return at number eight for the first time since he pulled his hamstring on Heineken Cup duty against Cardiff in October and will replace Alasdair Strokosch, who is on international duty with Scotland.

The other change comes on the wing where Matthew Watkins makes his first start since Gloucester's 39-23 win over Newcastle in September. He comes in for Lesley Vainikolo, who moves to the bench.

Hazell unavailable

Gloucester have won six of their last seven matches in all competitions and come into Friday's derby following a 25-21 success at Saracens.

In the forwards, head coach Dean Ryan keeps faith with props Nick Wood and Jack Forster, while Olivier Azam starts at hooker for the eighth time this season.

Will James and Alex Brown partner each other in the second row, while Peter Buxton, Apo Satala and Narraway complete the back row. Andy Hazell is still unavailable because of injury.

Dave Lewis continues his progression at scrum-half with his second successive start in a half-back partnership with Ryan Lamb, who landed 10 points last Sunday.

Mike Tindall, who has featured in every game bar the away defeat to Sale, skippers the side from the centre alongside Anthony Allen, who made a try-scoring return last weekend.

Watkins, Iain Balshaw and Olly Morgan complete Gloucester's line-up.

Gloucester: 15 Olly Morgan, 14 Iain Balshaw, 13 Mike Tindall (capt), 12 Anthony Allen, 11 Matthew Watkins, 10 Ryan Lamb, 9 Dave Lewis; 1 Nick Wood, 2 Olivier Azam, 3 Jack Forster, 4 Will James, 5 Alex Brown, 6 Peter Buxton, 7 Apo Satala, 8 Luke Narraway. Replacements: 16 Scott Lawson, 17 Dave Young, 18 Adam Eustace, 19 Andy Titterrell, 20 Jordi Pasqualin, 21 Olly Barkley, 22 Lesley Vainikolo.

Bristol team: 15 Luke Arscott, 14 Tom Arscott, 13 Neil Brew, 12 Ed Barnes, 11 David Lemi, 10 Adrian Jarvis, 9 Graeme Beveridge, 1 Alex Clarke, 2 Mark Regan, 3 Darren Crompton, 4 Roy Winters, 5 Robert Sidoli, 6 Alfie To'oala, 7 Joe El Abd (capt), 8 Dan Ward-Smith.
Replacements: 16 Scott Linklater, 17 Peter Bracken, 18 Mariano Sambucetti, 19 Iain Grieve, 20 Shaun Perry, 21 Luke Eves, 22 Lee Robinson