Bristol are bottom after collecting their second bonus point of the season in the 23-16 defeat to Saracens on Wednesday night and head coach Hill said: "Survive - that's the target. But it's early days yet.

"We've played very good teams (at home) and we could have beaten all three of them (Bath, Sale and Saracens). It is going to be a tough old year. There's no doubt about it, we need one or two personnel to come back from injury.

"I hope that the six-week break from the Premiership will help. It will give someone an opportunity to stake their claim. There are some people who are desperate to play for the first time. We can relax a bit.

"We don't have a lot of choice in the backs because we don't have too many. In the forwards, we could put out at least two packs of equal quality. We'll rest a few now because some have played the full 80 minutes for all 5 matches."

Prop Darren Crompton is out with an ankle injury and England scrum-half Shaun Perry is recovering from a shoulder injury.

Fly-half Adrian Jarvis played with strained knee ligaments against Saracens, so is likely to be rested, while Junior Fatialofa, who Saints know well from their clashes with Exeter last season, has a hamstring problem.

Bristol are the great raiders of division one and they could give a run out to fly-half Chris Ashwin, who was so impressive at the Gardens last season when Newbury were within a point of shocking Saints.

And they look set to give centre Luke Eves, who was part of England Under-20s run to the World Cup final in the summer. Another Academy product Iain Grieve could start at No.8 as well.

Veterans Roy Winters, Matt Salter and Mark Regan all look set to be given a run out in the pack, and there might be an appearance for former Saints favourite Andrew Blowers in his final season in the England before heading back to New Zealand.