Jack Adams has acknowledged that Bristol Rugby are now entering a "massive" week in their season as they prepare to face Exeter on Sunday.

The Championship leaders lost their aura of invincibility when they went down 23-13 at Plymouth on Saturday, a result that left Bristol just one point off the top of the table following their 37-16 win against Bedford on Friday.

And centre Adams, who scored one of Bristol's five tries in that demolition, has made no attempt to play down the significance of Sunday's sold-out top-of-the-table clash at Sandy Park.

He said: "We're open about how important this game is, and this is a massive week for us – everyone knows that. I don't think anyone here is going to hide from that or play it down – we know it's going to be intense.

"We're going to go down there for a game that is already sold out and give it everything.

"This is a huge week for both teams and, whatever happens, we showed against Bedford that we can come from points down and score lots of tries.

"Exeter came here earlier in the season and won, so it would certainly be nice to go down there and win.

"If they lose, they're not going to look at it as 'Oh my God, we're not going to get promoted' and nor are we.

"But at the same time, the next game is massive – and this is a huge time of the season as we head into the new year."

Bristol warmed up for Sunday's first-versus-second clash by coming from 16-10 down at half-time to beat Bedford on Friday – and then sat back as Exeter lost the following day's Devon derby at Plymouth.

And Adams felt the victory over Bedford was the perfect preparation for Bristol.

"Friday night was exactly what we needed," he said. "We had a bit of a shaky start but then showed that we can compose ourselves even when we're on the back foot.

"Bedford are a great team and we knew we were in for a hard game – but it all came together in the second half and we pulled it off.

"We didn't go in at half-time with our heads down, because we knew we could win the game – and everything ended up coming together in the end."