Paul Hull has defended Bristol's under-fire goal-kickers – and hailed the role Adrian Jarvis' "world-class touch-kicking" has played in their current winning run.

Bristol scored five tries at Coventry last weekend – but what could have been a 35-16 win ended up being a 27-16 victory after they missed four of their five conversions. Jarvis missed two of them, Tom Arscott scored one and missed one and replacement Sam Giddens missed another as leaders Bristol made it nine wins in a row in the Championship.

Head coach Hull took some of the blame for the poor kicking display – after taking the tee off Arscott and handing it to Giddens – but says his goal-kickers are putting in extra work on the training ground.

"They are all working hard – and what happened at the weekend was probably my (fault) actually," said Hull.

"Tom Arscott took over and got his first one, but then missed the second one. We decided to let Sam have a go, because he is a recognised goal-kicker, but I probably should have let Tom continue, so I'll take the hit for that.

"On certain days it goes well for you – and we'd like to be in a position where we don't have to win games just by kicks. That's an area we've got to keep improving on – and the players are doing that."

But the only aspect of Bristol's kicking game that let them down was the goal-kicking – with three of their five tries coming after Jarvis had kicked them into good positions.

The fly-half has had a mixed season from the tee, but his kicking from hand – allied with Bristol's powerful driving line-out – has proved a more than useful weapon in their pursuit of honours.

"We had a couple of penalties inside our half and on the halfway line – and Adrian Jarvis kicked the ball to within five metres of their try-line," said Hull.

"Jonny Wilkinson at his best was kicking like that, so I thought that was some world-class touch-kicking.

"That put us in a position to put pressure on the opposition by going for the line-out."

Bristol host Plymouth Albion in the Championship on Sunday – where they will be aiming to record a 10th straight league win.

The league leaders will be without lock Roy Winters, who is getting married this weekend, and No 8 Dan Montagu, who limped out of the Coventry win.

Bristol (from) – Backs: L Arscott, T Arscott, L Robinson, J Adams, L Eves, J Fatialofa, S Giddens, A Jarvis, C Ashwin, J Spice, R Shaw.

Forwards: M Irish, R Johnston, D Blaney, D Crompton, M Vunipola, W Thompson, N Budgett, M Sambucetti, D Barry, J Phillips, R Pennycook, J Miller, I Grieve.