Jason Spice believes Bristol Rugby's weekend off could prove beneficial in the long run – but he hopes the weather eases soon so the club avoid a fixture backlog.

Championship leaders Bristol's match at Moseley was postponed – along with every other fixture in their division – as the majority of sporting fixtures in the country fell victim to the weather.

Before Saturday's game was postponed, Bristol had played on every weekend since September 6, so skipper Spice was grateful for the chance for his players to recharge their batteries. But he hopes Saturday's postponement was a one-off and that Bristol can return to action against Doncaster at the Memorial Stadium on Friday.

"The weekend has served a good purpose for a few guys who have been carrying a few injuries – but we don't want to lose too much momentum," said Spice.

"In saying that, it is only one week and the key now is finding the right time to play the match. It shouldn't affect where we are going or how we are going about it.

"All in all, it hasn't been a bad thing to have this game off. We had a good blow-out in training on Friday and a few of us were in again to do a little bit more on Saturday.

"So we have trained reasonably hard despite the weather and it's been good to have a weekend off – as long as it's only one weekend."

Bristol have matches scheduled for every weekend between now and March 7 – with the Championship play-offs due to start the following weekend.

And Spice added: "We just hope the big freeze eases up soon, because we can't afford too many games to be called off.

"The design of the competition has not given us any free weekends, so we could have a few midweek matches if it carries on like this – and that is not ideal."

Bristol have stormed to the top of the table in recent weeks, opening up an eight-point lead over previous leaders Exeter thanks to a run of eight successive victories.

But Spice – whose side have beaten Exeter 25-16 and Cornish Pirates 31-15 in their last two matches – believes there is further improvement to come.

"It's all about putting pressure on yourself now so that when the real pressure comes in a couple of months, there is less room for slip-ups," said the scrum-half.

"We had a good run into the Exeter game – and then we came back the week after for a game we potentially could have slipped up in, and the first-half performance against Pirates was pretty outstanding.

"We are definitely going in the right direction – we just need to make sure we keep improving every week now."