Dean Ryan says there will be no knee-jerk reaction to Gloucester's 30-point Guinness Premiership drubbing at London Irish ahead of Saturday's derby at Bristol, writes Steve Cotton.

The Gloucester head coach watched his team crash 42-12 at the Madejski Stadium in the most one-sided top-of-the-table clash in English rugby's top division for many years.

But he will resist the temptation to make sweeping changes to his side for Saturday's trip to bottom club Bristol, whose own confidence will be buoyed by their weekend draw at Worcester.

Tries from Delon Armitage, Paul Hodgson, Sailosi Tagicakibau and Declan Danaher saw Irish take a clear lead at the top of the table, with Bath replacing Gloucester in second place.

"I don't think there's a requirement for wholesale changes," said Ryan.

"I think we've got to hurt a little bit – and you can't hide from some of the key things that we lost. But we've got a lot of confidence in the group that we've got and we'll have to see how we react to it. There's not a need for a knee-jerk reaction.

"There's a long way to go. We've played nine games in the Premiership and it's only Christmas – yet we feel like we've been playing forever. The league is not won on a Saturday afternoon in December. But on this evidence, if Irish can keep it going they will be a handful."

Gloucester had been hit badly by illness during the build-up to Saturday's match, with Olly Barkley withdrawing on the morning of the game and Olly Morgan being forced off at half-time.

But Ryan refused to blame the virus which had limited some of his key players' training throughout the week.

"We did have some illness in the camp but I think that would be a wrong way to measure that game," said Ryan. "We lost as well as having some problems coming into it, not because of the problems."