Bristol Saracens are beginning to see real benefits from investing time and energy in the club's youth set-up.

The great majority of the first team are former Henbury School pupils who also came up through Sarries' junior ranks together.

And those special bonds are clear to see in the togetherness of a side that has won its first three league games, including last weekend's 28-14 success at Frampton Cotterell, to set the early season pace in Gloucester Premier.

Loosehead prop Jamie Lloyd, in his first season as skipper, typifies this new generation as he joined Sarries at the age of six, and could not be prouder to be club captain.

The 24-year-old said: "Right from the start, I always looked up to the guys who had been first-team captain, so for me to get this chance is fantastic.

"The team spirit we have here is great because we're mates and we've grown up together. And we're still a very young side."

Lloyd packs down with hooker brother Andrew (22) and first-choice tighthead Andrew Wilmott (23), while the side's two locks are also only 24.

He added: "Things are going well right now, but it's very early in the season and we don't want to get carried away, as anyone can beat anyone else in this division.

"I was very pleased with the Frampton win because last season that was a game we would have lost. We had a lot of injury problems and really had to scrap hard ... it wasn't pretty at times, but we dug in and got the result."

Lloyd said new coach Phil Llewellyn had made an instant impact. "Numbers at training have been really good and Phil's come along with some new ideas and a very professional approach," he said.

"We're training the way we want to play and the guys are really responding to that."