Luke Arscott has paid tribute to the hard work done by Bristol's pack this season – and says all memories of defeat against Exeter have now been banished.

Bristol Rugby bounced back from their home loss to Exeter by crushing Championship promotion rivals Cornish Pirates 35-13 at the weekend.

The bonus-point victory closed the gap on leaders Exeter to three points ahead of Friday's home clash with Moseley – where victory could send Bristol back to the top of the table.

And full-back Arscott, who scored Bristol's first try at a windy and rain-swept Camborne Rec on Sunday, says the team's hard-working forwards are giving the backs plenty of confidence.

"My try on Sunday was another example of good work from the forwards at a line-out – and they didn't lose much ball all day," said Arscott.

"They gave us a great platform throughout the game and I was just thankful to get on the end of the last pass.

"We owe the forwards. In those sort of conditions, you can't play without a decent pack – and fortunately for us this season we've got a very good one.

"The boys really fronted up against Pirates. The line-out went really well and hopefully we can carry that on for the rest of the season."

Bristol have now won five of their six matches this season, with their only defeat coming against Exeter 10 days ago. But Arscott says the players have already moved on from the initial disappointment of that 35-26 defeat.

"We didn't take a knock, confidence-wise, after Exeter – it was disappointing more than anything," said Arscott.

"We let ourselves down against Exeter, it was a poor performance. It was a focus for the Pirates game to come back and banish the memories of Exeter – which we have done by getting five points away from home.

"We'll probably still look at the video and say we could have done a bit better here or there, but I think we will take that performance away from home and in tough conditions.

"Camborne is a tough place to go and we didn't expect the bonus point. Pirates are always a good side at home, so we're pleased to have gone there and picked up five points."

Bristol Rugby's players were given three days off following Sunday's match but return to training tomorrow ahead of Friday's home clash with Moseley.

The club's medical staff will assess the fitness of club captain Roy Winters before head coach Paul Hull names his squad to face the midlanders.

Lock Winters was a late withdrawal from Sunday's win at Camborne after suffering a groin strain in the team's final training run.