Alex Crockett will begin training with Bristol on Monday – and Paul Hull has backed the former Bath skipper to settle quickly at the club.

Head coach Hull has signed centre Crockett until the end of the season – and he will be free to play when his nine-month ban for missing two drugs tests expires on March 1.

Bristol have swept to the top of the Championship on the back of seven straight victories – six of which have been accompanied by try-scoring bonus points.

They host Cornish Pirates at the Memorial Stadium today, where another bonus-point win would give Hull's men a nine-point lead ahead of second-placed Exeter's trip to London Welsh tomorrow.

And with Luke Arscott and Mat Turner close to returning from injuries, James Merriman and Alex Clarke on the road to recovery and Crockett ready to link up with the squad, Hull's squad is in a strong position at the start of 2010.

"Alex is coming to watch the Pirates game and will then start with us on Monday," said Hull. "He has been training individually down the gym and has kept ticking over to keep himself fit – but it's a different thing when you get into rugby training.

"It will take a little time for him to get back into it, so it's perfect to have these couple of months where he can get to know our plays before he is available for selection.

"With him being unavailable until March, it is a slightly weird scenario, but the players will warm to him and make him feel welcome. We have got a very good squad now and it will be interesting to see how things pan out. We are keeping our feet on the ground, though, because we are only about halfway through the season.

"We still have the same goals we had at the start of the season and we are trying to put the right things in place and build our game-plan."

Bristol are expected to be without fly-half Ed Barnes (Achilles) and No 8 Bertrand Bedes for the remainder of the season – but most of their other injury concerns are easing.

Full-back Arscott was due to resume light training yesterday after a hamstring scare, while winger Turner is also back on the field after a minor injury. Flanker Merriman has had a clean-out operation on his damaged knee – and has an appointment with a specialist in a fortnight.

"James' recovery is ongoing and he will go back to see the specialist in two weeks – but that is looking positive," said Hull.

"That leaves Alex Clarke, who we expect to be back in three to four weeks, so things are generally looking pretty good at the moment."

Bristol have made six changes to their side for today's game. Tom Arscott, Luke Eves, Robbie Shaw, Wayne Thompson, Mariano Sambucetti and Iain Grieve replace Luke Arscott, Jack Adams, Jason Spice, Darren Crompton, Nathan Budgett and Redford Pennycook.

Bristol: T Arscott; L Robinson, L Eves, J Fatialofa, D Norton; A Jarvis, R Shaw; M Irish, D Blaney, W Thompson, M Sambucetti, R Winters (capt), J Phillips, I Grieve, D Montagu. Reps: R Johnston, D Crompton, N Budgett, R Pennycok, J Spice, S Giddens, J Adams.

Cornish Pirates: R Cook; R Bright, M Ireland, R Jones, N Jackson; J Bentley, G Cattle (capt); C Rimmer, L Wordley, R Brits, R Labuschagne, B Gulliver, C Morgan, T Holmes, L McGlone. Reps: P Andrew, D Ward, A Paver, S Pammenter, B Cowan, J Doherty, S Winn.