Prop Mark Irish insists taking a step backwards by joining Newbury on loan last season has helped his bid to make the No 1 shirt his own at Bristol Rugby.

With former Scotland international Dave Hilton and Alex Clarke ahead of him in the loosehead prop pecking order, the former England Under-21 international struggled to force his way into the Bristol Rugby first team after signing for the club from Gloucester Rugby in February 2005.

He jumped at the chance to join National Division One strugglers Newbury for nearly all of the season, getting regular rugby under his belt before returning to the Memorial Stadium last summer.

But, with Hilton retiring last summer and Clarke unable to make an impact this term, the 28-year-old from Bridgwater has enjoyed his best Guinness Premiership season so far, starting 10 matches and signing a new contract earlier this month.

Irish said: "I have committed for another two years at Bristol. I am enjoying playing for the club this season.

"I have really enjoyed the step-up in rugby since coming back to the club from Newbury.

"I had the opportunity to play week in, week out and string some back-to-back games together. That helped me massively get my confidence back up."

Bristol handed themselves a Premiership lifeline by thrashing second-from-bottom Worcester 37-18 on Sunday and are now only nine points behind the Midlanders.

Irish believes Bristol – who had been improving before beating the Warriors – can continue their revitalised form on Saturday when they visit third-placed London Irish.

Irish added: "Winning is a tough ask but it is not out of the question. We must stick to our gameplan. It works.

"We are not mathematically down yet. Hopefully we can go out and perform like we have done in previous weeks.

"If we continue to perform individually and collectively, then the results will follow. That was our aim for last weekend. Hopefully that will happen on Saturday.

"We are playing a better style of rugby now. But it has taken us time to get use to it. We have the confidence to stick to the game plan for 80 minutes.

"Irish do have a good home record and the Madejski Stadium is a tough place to go."