Bass, and a new shirt as Bristol revert back to their traditional blue and white hoops but with the red warning  triangle of the sponsor. There has already been high praise for the new shirt from one Bristol fan All and all a very smart shirt, at least it s not as gay as Barf's or Gloshta's .

Bristol have spent the time since April building a new squad and at this stage, the start of the season that is what it is a squad not a team, until they ve a few matches under there belt. Bristol have of course the nucleus of the team that won them the National Division One Title, but it will take some time for them to bond as a team with the influx of new players.

Bristol have been reported to be following a strict military style training regime at the teams  training camp in France. In a technique copied from the French Foreign Legion it, is claimed to prevent players from dropping out when the going gets tough. The idea is that if anyone cannot stand the pace any longer then they have to ring a bell, that has been set up alongside the pitch, to say they are injured. They will certainly take some hard knocks and start their Premiership campaign with a baptism of fire against Bath!

Bristol supporters have been very keen to tell Quins at virtually every opportunity that life in ND 1 will not be easy, a fact that we fully understand but will be well equipped to face. In turn life, for the newly promoted side, in the Premiership will also be very hard for them, as Worcester found last season. They fought hard to remain in Premiership.

Two of Bristol s new signings are ex-Quins favourites, centre Andy Reay, flanker Roy Winters, and from some years ago Lock Gareth Llewellyn. They are joined by centres Mark Denny, and Brian Lima, hooker Mark Regan, fly half Tommy Hayes, and also two ex-Plymouth players, wing Lee Robinson and No. 8 Dan Ward-Smith and Samoan wing David Lemi.

Matches between Harlequins and Bristol have been very exciting, hard fought affairs in the past. In terms of Premiership matches the two sides are level terms winning 12 games each. There is certainly a lot of pride at stake over the result of his match. The last time the two sides meet was back in January 2003 with Quins winning 26-17 at The Stoop and in March 2003 down at the Memorial Ground when a plucky Quins side, mourning the loss of Nick Duncombe, went down 48-41.

Quinssa are running a coach to this match, please contact John Hartley if you d like to book a seat. Bristol have priced the match tickets at a staggering £20.00 but such is the premium one must pay to watch Quins and eat a decent pasty!

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Since writing this preview last week Bristol struggled to defeat Coventry 28-18 and by all accounts their forwards struggled against the ND1 outfit's pack and their 7s team were thrashed by Leicester at Twickenham last weekend.

This match will be played in four 20 minute quarters and it is likely that Quins will use more players than in a normal game but the starting 15/22 is getting closer to being know.

The full Quins squad is as follows:

The back three certainly has a lot of pace and with the skills of Greenwood and Duffy in the centres and the half-back partnership of Vass and Jarvis they should get good service.

It's good to see Tani Fuga back playing again after his knee operation that kept him out at the end of last season and the props are two hard men. The second row combines the size and power of Burke with the pace of Evans and the back row of Bouza, Vos and Easter certainly looks dynamic.

The replacements show the strength in depth of the squad and there is a good mixture of experience and youth. It is nice to see Jordan Turner-Hall on the team sheet, he is a very promising centre who has just been selected for the Junior National Academy.

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