Hat-trick hero Tom Arscott admitted Bristol Rugby's players had been letting themselves and their coaches down before last night's 46-28 win over Coventry.

Bristol, beaten at lowly Doncaster in their previous outing, fired out a warning to the rest of the Championship with an eight-try drubbing of Coventry in front of the Sky Sports cameras.

And winger Arscott, who crossed three times in the opening 31 minutes, said the challenge for Bristol now was to maintain the high standards they set last night.

"We knew we needed to prove a point," said Arscott.

"We've been letting down ourselves and each other as a team. The coaching staff have been doing all they can, but us as players have been making silly mistakes.

"I think this performance came down to not wanting to let each other down and wanting to work harder for each other. On the pitch, it certainly felt like the boys were working hard for each other."

Defeat at Doncaster had raised questions about Bristol Rugby's ability to go on and win promotion back to the Guinness Premiership.

But Arscott felt last night's performance – aside from the lapses that allowed Coventry to score three tries – was the perfect response.

"Last weekend was disappointing – we didn't play our best rugby and were fairly poor in a few areas," said the 22-year-old.

"We came in this week and worked really hard on those – and had a good look at ourselves and what we need to be putting right.

"I think we went out tonight and did that – and it's good to put a marker down to the rest of the league, because we haven't had the best start to the season.

"We want to kick on from here, because this is how we should be performing week in, week out."

Arscott's first score – on five minutes – was a simple finish after Jason Spice had played him in following a powerful maul, before doubling his tally after taking Jack Adams' pass.

His third was the pick of his scores, chipping over the head of the final Coventry defender and winning the race to the line.

And man of the match Arscott said: "I just managed to get three quick tries, which was good for me individually and for the team.

"There were a few lapses of concentration in the second half, which we need to iron out – but overall it was a very good performance."