Bristol will go into their opening promotion play-off match against Cornish Pirates on Friday without the injured Tom Arscott and David Blaney.

Winger Arscott, who scored two of Bristol's four tries in last weekend's 30-25 defeat at Moseley, has a hamstring complaint, while hooker Blaney is ruled out with a groin problem.

Elsewhere, Bristol will be without Argentina lock Mariano Sambucetti, who is at a training camp with the Pumas this week, while fellow lock Roy Winters (ankle) and centre Sam Giddens (hamstring) are still unavailable.

Yet, despite the setbacks, head coach Paul Hull believes his squad is strong enough to kick off their Pool A campaign with a victory at the Memorial Stadium.

"We've been building for this point in the season to make sure guys are fresh, hungry and raring to go – and they are," said Hull.

"We haven't got too many injury worries, which is pleasing. We won't have Tom Arscott, David Blaney, Roy Winters or Sam Giddens available for Friday – but hopefully they'll all be back within the next couple of weeks.

"It doesn't really disrupt us too much. We've got four frontline wingers in the squad, so if one goes down, it's not an issue. That area would have been a selection issue anyway if Tom was fit.

"Roy's not fit, but we're happy with the cover we've got there, so he is one person out of a numerous amount of locks we've got who can play at this level – we're confident in that area.

"With Sam Giddens being injured, Mark Davies has forced his way into the match-day squad through good form, while Ollie Hayes played really well in the British & Irish Cup and comes in for Blaney. It's still a very strong squad I believe – and that's what we've been priding ourselves on this year."

One area where Hull has no injury concerns is the midfield, with Jack Adams, Junior Fatialofa, Luke Eves and Alex Crockett all pushing to start against Pirates.

But recent signing Crockett, having played just 71 minutes over two weekends since completing his nine-month ban, appears unlikely to be handed the No 13 shirt on Friday.

"Alex started against Nottingham in the British & Irish Cup but unfortunately had to go off with a strained hamstring," said Hull. "That meant he couldn't train during the early part of last week, so he couldn't really start the Moseley game, which we would have liked him to.

"He hasn't had that much game-time yet, but he's feeling his way into the team. It's about making sure we've got the players who are in the best form out on the pitch."

With Winters and Sambucetti unavailable, Hull must decide whether to start Academy lock Darren Barry alongside Nathan Budgett – or to hand James Phillips a rare start in the second row.

The top eight teams in the 12-team Championship will play-off for promotion to the Guinness Premiership.

The eight teams are split into two pools of four, with Bristol, Bedford, Cornish Pirates and Plymouth in Pool A and Exeter, London Welsh, Nottingham and Doncaster in Pool B.

Teams will meet both home and away in the pool stages, with the top two sides in each pool after six pool matches progressing to the semi-finals.

The semis will be one-off matches, with the top team in Pool A hosting the runners-up in Pool B and vice-versa.

Promotion to the Premiership will eventually be settled with a two-legged, home and away final played on Wednesday, May 19 and Wednesday, May 26.

Bristol (from): Backs – L Arscott, L Robinson, D Norton, A Crockett, J Fatialofa, J Adams, L Eves, A Jarvis, M Davies, J Spice, R Shaw. Forwards – M Irish, M Vunipola, R Johnston, O Hayes, W Thompson, D Crompton, D Barry, N Budgett, J Phillips, I Grieve, D Montagu, J Merriman, R Pennycook.