PAUL Hull was hugely enthused by Bristol's first outing of pre-season in France – and is ready to give the same players the chance to impress against Clifton.

Bristol were beaten 38-21 by French Pro D2 side Dax in France on Sunday night – but head coach Hull was able to draw plenty of positives.

His line-up had an average age of 23, with five teenagers among the starting line-up, and Hull was delighted with the way they applied themselves.

One year ago, Bristol were sluggish 26-8 winners over Newbury – and Hull felt the performance in France was considerably better.

"I was very disappointed with the performance at Newbury this time last year – but this was slightly different," said Hull.

"We had a young team out in France, with six players aged 20 or under, and we played some very good rugby. I was pleased with a lot of aspects of the game.

"Unfortunately, we gifted them two tries and another came through an error in our strategy.

"But it was a good game, which was well contested. Our scrum worked really well and that was a massive plus – as was our shape in attack and defence.

"It was a loss – and I'm never happy to lose – but I was pleasantly surprised and pleased with a lot of aspects of our game."

Injured quintet Junior Fatialofa, Nathan Budgett, Ross Johnston, Robbie Shaw and Darren Crompton missed the trip, while David Blaney failed a late fitness test on a sternum injury.

But Hull has no reservations about giving the same players another chance in Friday's traditional pre-season clash with Clifton.

"We've got a couple of dead legs, but you tend to get that during pre-season games," said Hull.

"But none of those should stop people from playing on Friday night."

Hull highlighted the performances of 19-year-old full-back Jack Tovey and 20-year-old hooker Ollie Hayes. "They stood out – they had very good games," said the head coach.

And Hull added that some more positive news for Bristol supporters could be around the corner.

"I think there might be some news coming out in the next few days," he said.