Dan Norton has revealed how a spot of rivalry with flat-mate and fellow winger Mat Turner is helping to bring the best out of him.

The 21-year-old, a summer signing from Gloucester, has impressed on his first two competitive appearances for Bristol, scoring tries against both London Welsh and Birmingham & Solihull.

With Tom Arscott and Lee Robinson rested, Norton is the only member of Bristol's back three from their opening two Championship games to keep their place for tomorrow's Memorial Stadium clash with Rotherham.

He will start alongside Luke Arscott and Turner – and says he and his fellow England Sevens star are spurring each other on with a spot of friendly rivalry.

"I've settled in really well at Bristol – it's really good here and everyone gets on really well," said Norton. "I've moved down to Bristol now and I'm living with Mat, so that's good and means I don't have to drive down from Gloucester every day.

"We get on pretty well but everything's a competition between us – even though it's all good-natured. We understand there will be weeks where one of us plays and the other doesn't."

Norton's early-season try-scoring heroics have certainly caught the eye of the Bristol supporters – but he has stopped short of drawing up a try-scoring chart for his and Turner's living room.

"I may have to try to introduce one soon, but he might not be too happy about that," he joked.

"But Mat's starting on Sunday, so I'm sure he'll go out and get four tries now!

"He was injured quite a lot last year, so I'm sure he's got a point to prove this season and hopefully we can both do well.

"We work together and help each other with our skills, so we both know what we have to do to improve as players."

Bristol have taken nine points from their opening two matches – but players and coaches alike have made it clear they must improve their performances.

Norton agrees, although his experience of two loan spells with Moseley meant he always knew how difficult the early matches would be for Bristol.

"We obviously want to win games now but we also want to peak at the right time, later in the season," said Norton.

"We're getting a basic understanding of everything now, but we'll be bolting new things on to our game as we go along.

"There's still room for improvement, so hopefully we'll be able to peak when it matters."

Norton came through the Academy system at hometown club Gloucester, but with first-team opportunities at Kingsholm limited, he had little hesitation in joining Bristol.

"I was born and bred in Gloucester, so it was a hard decision to leave in one way," he said.

"But I was on loan at Moseley most of the time, so it was a great opportunity to come here, work with Paul Hull and keep progressing.

"There's a lot of desire here to bounce straight back to the Guinness Premiership and that's something I really want to be involved in."