Lloyd not getting carried away with Clifton's form

Clifton may be flying high in second place in National Two South but director of rugby Darren Lloyd is refusing to get carried away at this early stage of the season.

The Cribbs Causeway club bid for a third win from four outings tomorrow at home to Southend (2.30pm) but Clifton are keeping feet firmly on the ground.

Lloyd said: "It's nice to be there but it's a little bit of a false position with so much rugby to be played.

"Our goal is still to maintain our position in this division and to perform. We played well in patches last week at Worthing but we're looking for it to click for the whole 80 minutes."

John Barnes' groin injury means Alex-Pierre Clark reverts back to fly-half, while Andy Bell and David Rees return at centre and full-back, respectively, with Sam Smee on the wing.

Bristol Academy and Wales Under-18 scrum-half Adam Jones is handed a start, as is openside Henry Mace who has forced himself into the picture on the back of several big efforts off the bench and in training.

Dings Crusaders continue to search for a settled side, despite a strong start that has yielded two wins and a narrow home reverse.

There are eight changes for tomorrow's long trip to Canterbury, with Sam Caven making his first start of the season on the wing for Sylvan Edwards, while Jack Gadd lines up at centre for Alistair Crombie.

Richard Thomas comes in at hooker for Dave Wheeler, while alongside him in the front row Chas Meddick replaces Josh Lloyd. There is a double change at lock with Rob Rees and Ollie Caunt starting together as Gareth Lloyd drops to the bench and Pierre Panizzutti switches to blindside.

Mitch Quoi swaps the number six shirt to play at openside in place of skipper Stean Williams, who is not available, handing the captaincy to No 8 Ed Hack.

Lock Mark Parry takes charge for the first time at Cleve, who face a tough home National Three South West derby date with Weston-super-Mare (2.30pm).

Scrum-half Ross Bennett and flanker Craig Trump face their old club while Ben Breeze returns at full-back from injury with Nathan Huntley on the bench after spending a season in Perth, Australia.

Clevedon, three out of three in South West One West, have delayed naming their starting line-up for the home clash with Avonmouth because of injury concerns.

In Western Counties North, high-flying Thornbury hope to bounce back from last week's setback at Drybrook with victory at home over bottom side Gordon League.

Returning are influential centre Dave Matthews and full-back Sam Olde but Liam Rinn and Wayne Underwood miss out. George Maggs moves up to second row with Liam Pemberton making his first start of the season at blindside flanker.

Old Redcliffians, meanwhile, welcome back prop Luke Summerfield and fly-half Craig Owen for the visit of lowly North Bristol.

Reds conceded 23 points without reply in a lacklustre first half last weekend at Stroud before rallying with 19 unanswered points of their own to suffer a narrow first loss of the campaign. And coach Graeme Beveridge is looking to maintain that second-half momentum tomorrow.