We've got a point to prove, says Bristol's Jarvis
Championship promotion hopefuls Bristol Rugby suffered a shock 26-22 defeat at struggling Doncaster last weekend – but they are back in action in front of a national television audience tonight.
And fly-half Jarvis – who is the leading points scorer in the division with 90 – believes the visit of Coventry is the ideal opportunity for Bristol to show what they are all about.
"We've got a point to prove – and there's no better opportunity than to do it on TV," said Jarvis.
"We're very disappointed with the performance at Doncaster and there's a lot to put right."
Bristol have now lost twice this season, with their other defeat coming against leaders Exeter.
But with promotion to the Guinness Premiership being decided via play-offs rather than the straight league season, Jarvis says now is the time for Bristol to find out where their weaknesses lie – provided they can put them right in time for the play-offs.
"It's better to find out where you need to improve earlier than at the end of the season," he said.
"But we go into every game wanting to win, so it's always frustrating and disappointing when we don't.
"As we've shown, there are some issues but we're working hard to put them right. And it's probably better to be dealing with them now than come the end of the season when it's too late to change."
Ball retention has been one of Bristol's biggest weaknesses so far this season – and it was their errors that led to Doncaster's tries last weekend.
But Jarvis has assured the club's supporters that the players are working hard to put right that aspect of their game.
"We just seemed to turn the ball over so easily and let them score soft tries," he said.
"If someone holds onto the ball for 20 phases and scores a try against you, you can at least say 'we defended 20 phases'. But we're turning it over and they're scoring within one or two phases, which is disappointing.
"We're working hard in training, so hopefully Friday night will be better for us.
"The confidence hasn't really taken a knock. We've proved we can play at a good level – it's just a matter of doing it for 80 minutes rather than just in the second half at Cornish Pirates and 20 minutes here or there.
"It's disappointing we haven't put 80 good minutes together yet, but hopefully we'll do that on Friday. And we can take confidence from the fact we know we can play well and hurt teams."
Bristol Rugby: L Arscott; T Arscott, J Adams, J Fatialofa, D Norton; A Jarvis, J Spice (capt); A Clarke, D Blaney, W Thompson, J Phillips, R Winters, I Grieve, J Merriman, D Montagu. Reps: O Hayes, M Irish, D Crompton, D Barry, R Shaw, C Ashwin, L Eves.
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