Paul Hull has told his Bristol players to cut out the errors – or forget about winning promotion back to the Guinness Premiership at the first attempt, writes Steve Cotton.

The head coach, pictured, got tough with his players following Sunday's 35-26 home defeat to Exeter – their first loss of the Championship campaign.

Bristol gifted Exeter three of their four tries through turnover ball – and Hull has revealed he pulled no punches in his post-match analysis.

And the head coach wants to see a big improvement in his side's ball retention when they visit Cornish Pirates this weekend.

"We had a good meeting on Tuesday and the boys have responded very well to some stern words and tough sessions during the week," said Hull.

"We've turned the mood round in the last few days – we're very upbeat now.

"But after the weekend we had to speak harshly and honestly with the players and say, 'if we turn the ball over that many times, then our long-term ambitions will not be realised'.

"Sometimes you can take some positives out of a defeat – and we've definitely done that, because training has been very focused since."

Hull admits he had a big job to lift the mood in the camp following Sunday's Memorial Stadium – a result which has left them four points adrift of promotion rivals Exeter.

But he says the focus is now firmly on getting back to winning ways when his side travel to Camborne on Sunday.

"The mood was a bit sombre, as you can imagine," said Hull.

"We're very disappointed with the way we performed more than anything – and that obviously contributed to the loss.

"We didn't look after the ball in certain areas of the field and Exeter capitalised on our errors.

"They scored three out of the four tries from turnover ball, and it's tough to win games when you give a team like Exeter 13 points at the start and a 17-point half-time lead.

"It's a bit disappointing, and when we looked back at the game we saw areas we will definitely have to work on and deal with.

"But we've worked on those things this week and it's just a matter now of trying to translate that into a performance which is lower on errors at the weekend. That's our aim over the next three to four matches."

Hull will welcome hooker Ross Johnson and fly-half Chris Ashwin back from injury for this weekend's match.

And he has revealed how he took man-of-the-match Junior Fatialofa off towards the end of Sunday's game as he had been suffering from a combination of illness and mental fatigue, the latter linked to last week's tsunami in his home country of Samoa.

"I think he just put a lot of work into that game – and had been feeling unwell in the morning," said Hull.

"There was no injury for Junior, he was just feeling under the weather. Plus he's had a lot on his mind with the troubles at home – the tsunami and everything – so all things considered he had a great game."

Bristol (from): Backs – L Arscott, T Arscott, L Robinson, D Norton, J Adams, L Eves, J Fatialofa, A Jarvis, C Ashwin, J Spice, S Alford. Forwards – A Clarke, M Irish, D Blaney, R Johnson, D Crompton, W Thompson, M Sambucetti, R Winters, J Phillips, I Grieve, J Merriman, D Montagu, R Pennycook.