Arscott warns Bristol of hometown club's threat

Tom Arscott has warned his Bristol team-mates they will face a Plymouth side reinvigorated by last weekend's surprise win against Nottingham at Brickfields this afternoon, writes Steve Cotton.

The Devonians ended a run of three straight defeats by stunning second-placed Nottingham – and former Albion winger Arscott knows Plymouth will be sensing another scalp today.

Pre-season Championship favourites Bristol have already lost against Exeter and Doncaster this season, but gave an indication of what they are capable of in thrashing Coventry last weekend.

But Arscott said: "Plymouth have been playing a bit better in the last couple of weeks, so we're going to have to be on form.

"They've beaten Nottingham and the Pirates now, so it seems to be the bigger games that Plymouth perform in. We'll have to go out and put a good performance in."

Arscott spent two seasons with his hometown club before joining Bristol in 2007 – and admits the trip to Brickfields was the first game he looked for when the Championship fixture list was published.

"As soon as we came down, after I had got over the fact we had been relegated, I started looking forward to playing Plymouth," said Arscott.

"I'm going back to where I grew up and also where I played. I was at Plymouth for two seasons – and I'm really looking forward to going back there."

Arscott scored a hat-trick inside the opening 31 minutes as Bristol beat Coventry 46-28 eight days ago.

And he felt his side's performance simply underlined their great potential.

"It had been bubbling under the surface, and then on Friday night it all clicked," said Arscott.

"There were still a few mistakes, including letting them score three tries, but all in all it was a pretty good performance.

"We've been pretty positive this week, but we have looked at our defence and we know there was a few issues there. It's nothing major, just a few things to put right.

Lock Nathan Budgett returns for Bristol after two months out with a calf injury, while Plymouth boss Graham Dawe has named himself among the possible replacements – at the age of 50.

Plymouth Albion: K Hallett (capt); B Mercer, K Fisilau, S Tu'ipulotu, L Gibson; A Davies, R Cushion; M Rice, J Owen, R Hopkins, M Lewis, T Hotson, S-M Stephen, R Watts-Jones, K Marriott. Reps (from): M Lee, G Kingdom, G Dawe, J Clark, D Porte, D Morton, T Skelding, W Sprangle, S Johns.

Bristol: L Arscott; T Arscott, J Adams, J Fatialofa, D Norton; A Jarvis, J Spice (capt); M Irish, D Blaney, W Thompson, N Budgett, R Winters, J Phillips, J Merriman, D Montagu. Reps: O Hayes, D Crompton, D Barry, R Pennycook, R Shaw, C Ashwin, L Eves.