PREVIEW: Bristol Rugby vs Bridgend
ON-LOAN centre Ben Mosses has revealed how his focus is exclusively on Bristol – and the 21-year-old is drawing inspiration from Josh Ovens' successful stint at the Memorial Stadium last season.
Unlike Ovens, Mosses only trains with Bristol, so he does not face the uncertainty and disruption of having to make regular trips back to parent club Bath.
But he is very much eager to emulate Ovens in the sense of impressing in Bristol's colours – and he is already feeling at home.
Mosses had a stint on loan with Bristol last season, but is making a much more noticeable impact this time around – and is hungry for that to continue.
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"I'm absolutely here full-time – my mind is solely on Bristol," said Mosses. "When I'm here, which has been for the last three months, I haven't even had a thought about anything else, just on training hard every week and trying to make that team.
"For Josh last season, Bath had a few injuries and so he got called back for LV= Cup games. But they have got plenty of players in depth and I think it's better for me personally to develop if I'm in one environment – and I'm just focusing on that.
"When I came here last year, I could see how well Josh had been doing, and I wanted a piece of the action.
"I thought that if he was playing in front of the Mem crowd – which is an absolutely amazing place to play – and getting a good standard of rugby on a regular basis then I couldn't ask for more than that.
"The Championship is just as physical as any league you could imagine, so instead of being in the gym every week and focusing on being a gym monkey pretty much, I'm actually playing rugby.
"That's what I want to do – like any rugby player, rugby is the thing I enjoy most."
Mosses has forged an effective midfield partnership with Luke Eves, pictured, in recent weeks, although the return of Jack Gadd from injury looks set to make life tougher, not only for head coach Liam Middleton but for Mosses.
"Luke's a great player to play with," said the on-loan centre. "He's played in the Premiership and it makes my job easier when I've got someone who has played at that level outside me. He's helped me a lot.
"Competition is always going to be high at a club like Bristol and everyone wants that shirt come game-day.
"You can see it in the training – the boys are pushing each other for excellence, because that's what we are striving for.
"When it gets to game-day and you've got that shirt, you've got to make sure you put a stamp on it."
Bristol's fortunes have picked up in recent weeks, winning four matches in a row to deliver the perfect response to their 63-7 mauling at Nottingham last month.
The challenge now is to extend that run and qualify for the next stage of the British & Irish Cup, as well as improving on their fifth place in the Championship.
"We've been striving to get on this run of form – and now that we're on it, it's something we're looking to keep going when we move back into the Championship," said Mosses.
"We're not getting too far ahead of ourselves – we want to make sure the Bridgend game is the only game we're concentrating on.
"We want to make sure we get the win first, and then the bonus point, because Ulster are breathing down our necks in the pool.
"If we want to qualify, we've got to make sure we put in a good performance."
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