Bristol have made a major statement of intent ahead of next season by signing Jason Spice from Cardiff Blues.

The 34-year-old – who is the powerful Welsh region's first-choice scrum-half – will arrive at the Memorial Stadium on a two-year deal this summer.

But while his signing is undeniably a coup for Bristol, it has cast fresh doubt over the future of Shaun Perry.

The England scrum-half revealed earlier this week how he hoped to honour the remaining two years of his Bristol contract.

Perry has repeatedly been linked with French club Brive, as well as Guinness Premiership sides Worcester and Gloucester, but has made it clear he sees his future with Bristol.

Yet with the club on the verge of being relegated to the second-tier Championship, it is highly unlikely they would be able to afford to keep two scrum-halves of such quality on their wage bill.

Spice has made 18 appearances for the Blues this season – including starting all six of their Heineken Cup matches – and will be in the No 9 shirt when they face Northampton in the EDF Energy Cup semi-final today.

A combative scrum-half, the New Zealander played for Auckland Blues and Wellington Hurricanes in his homeland before joining Ospreys in 2004. He left for Cardiff two years ago and has made 43 appearances for the Blues.

The signing of Spice follows head coach Paul Hull's earlier announcement that he has secured the services of Gloucester centre Jack Adams.

And the head coach, whose squad for next season is starting to take shape, yesterday handed a new contract to Argentina lock Mariano Sambucetti.

Despite making significant progress on the squad-building front, Bristol will, however, be relegated to the second tier of English rugby if they fail to beat Worcester at the Memorial Stadium tomorrow (12.30pm).

With four matches to play, Hull's men are 14 points adrift of Worcester, who also have a game in hand, and must beat them to have any hope of avoiding the drop.

And Perry, who will start at scrum-half tomorrow, said: "We need to go out and get that win – and then we need to go out the weekend after and get another win – because it's a miracle we need now.

"Next weekend doesn't matter unless we win this weekend – and if we can do that, then we will focus on the next game.

"We need to make up 14 points on Worcester – and that's if they don't win another game this season. It's a hard task, but the boys are up for the fight. We never give up."

Bristol have shown a marked improvement since Hull replaced Richard Hill as head coach last month – but are yet to win under their new boss.

"We want to go out there and get a win for the club, because as a player you don't want to go through the whole Premiership season with only one win," said Perry, whose side last triumphed in the league in November.

"I think we owe more to ourselves, we owe more to the coaching staff and we owe more to the supporters. The boys are here to deliver – and that's what we're going to try to do."

Bristol: T Arscott; L Robinson, Neil Brew, J Fatialofa, D Lemi; E Barnes, S Perry; M Irish, S Linklater, D Crompton, M Sambucetti, R Sidoli, R Pennycook, J El Abd (capt), D Ward-Smith. Reps: O Hayes, W Thompson, R Winters, A To'oala, H Thomas, L Eves, L Arscott.

Worcester: W Walker; M Garvey, R Gear, D Rasmussen, M Benjamin; M Jones, R Powell; M Mullan, C Fortey, D Morris, G Rawlinson, W Bowley, T Wood, P Sanderson (capt), K Horstmann. Reps: C Black, A Lutui, G Kitchener, J Collins, J Arr, L Crichton, A Grove.