It's do or die for bottom side Bristol at the Memorial Stadium on Sunday afternoon, where anything but a victory for the home side against second-last Worcester will consign them to relegation. Sky Sports will be present to catch this crunch encounter.

With just one solitary league win all season, Bristol are teetering on the brink. They currently sit 14 points adrift of this weekend's opponents and need a bonus-point win if they are to harbour any ambitions of staying in the Guinness Premiership.

David Lemi could be a potential matchwinner for Bristol on Sunday

Worcester, meanwhile have been the model of inconsistency this season. In the past month they have recorded superb wins over London Wasps and Gloucester but those victories have sandwiched underwhelming defeats to Northampton and London Irish. Can they put back-to-back victories together and confirm their top-flight status for another season?

Miles Harrison will be commentating from the Memorial Stadium this Sunday and he thinks that Bristol will be striving to end what has been a turbulent season on a positive note.

It's a must-win game for Bristol, but essentially are they already down?

MILES REPLIES: While there's life Bristol are going to fight and in three or their last four games they've played the kind of rugby that could have won them matches. The bottom line however, is that they haven't picked up any wins and that's been the story of their season.

What they do know this weekend is that if they do lose they're down, so there's a clarity to the situation. And they also know that the way they finish this season will determine how they start the next one. You see this in other sports as well when teams go out of the top division; if they can end the season strongly they tend to start the next season pretty well, and coach Paul Hull will be thinking about that. He won't be writing off this season just yet, though.

When they do look back at the end of the season, last weekend could prove to be the final straw for Bristol, when they narrowly lost at Wasps while Worcester beat Gloucester. Because of that an already difficult situation now borders on the impossible. It hasn't reached impossible just yet though, and Bristol certainly won't be thinking that it's done and dusted. If they can get a bonus point win you never know, seeds of doubt will start emerging in Worcester's minds.

Even if they do take maximum points from this game, Bristol's run-in doesn't make pretty reading: trips to London Irish and Leicester and a home game against Wasps.

MILES REPLIES: It's a tough run-in but they ran Wasps very close last week and they'd look positively at the return fixture at the Memorial Ground. Leicester are going well but they could have a top-four finish secured by the final weekend and should they progress, be also thinking about the Heineken Cup.

If you are an ardent Bristol supporter these are the things you have to cling onto. But they have to put the run-in to one side and not think about what's over the hill; they need to concentrate on this weekend. If they are to drop out of the Guinness Premiership they'll want to go out in a blaze, not of glory but of performances that will remind other sides of what they have achieved in recent years. That's very important to the players.

You were over at Bristol's training ground during the week, Miles. Is it all doom and gloom?

MILES REPLIES: Far from it. There was no air of a side resigned to their fate, or a depressed air surrounding their training session. I wasn't surprised because you have faith in those guys to be professional, but I walked away thinking this is a side that's certainly going to give it everything between now and the end of the season, and that is to their credit.

They don't want to go down with one league win to their name, of course they don't. That's something of a stigma and could hang around the squad all summer. It goes back to the point that if they're not going to be in the Premiership, which is very likely, they need to finish this season positively. They're playing pretty well at the moment; if they could just get a few wins to show for those efforts then it will help them next season, whatever league they're in.

If they are in National League One, they can look back and say 'we weren't at our best last season but still beat Premiership sides'. They're going to be the side everybody wants to beat in National One, so they've got to have a good mental response themselves.

Worcester inconsistencies

Worcester will also want to finish on a high. They had a great win over Gloucester last Sunday but their problem this season has been backing one positive result up with another.

MILES REPLIES: I did the double journey during the week and travelled to Worcester as well. I listened to Mike Ruddock speak and you could hear the frustration in his words and tone at their inconsistency. Worcester have become a backs-to-the-wall kind of team. When they do put in a poor performance they go and play like they did against Gloucester last week. That was a very special day for them because it was their biggest ever crowd at Sixways. The supporters have done so well to create great atmospheres at Sixways this season and as loyal as they are, they're going to need some rewards soon. The players and management know that.

You never see a Worcester team that goes onto the field and doesn't give it everything, but you do see performances which outline their inconsistencies. They've got to eradicate that. This weekend is about going to Bristol and being ruthless; they don't want to be thinking about relegation anymore. We talked about the stigma with Bristol, well Worcester are constantly linked with relegation every season and it's something they're fed up with.

It would take a remarkable run of results to relegate Worcester but given their European involvement they'd like to confirm their Premiership status as soon as possible.

MILES REPLIES: Worcester are a bit cut off from the rest at the moment and have been looking over their shoulder. But they need only look at Newcastle; they put together a run of five wins that will change the whole perception of their season. If Worcester could do that in their final run of games, the same can happen for them. They haven't got the time to clinch a really respectable league position but they're still involved in the European Challenge Cup and that's a big competition for them. They got to the final last year and will want to reward their supporters by going one step further this time.

Their cause won't be aided by the loss of Chris Latham to injury, though.

MILES REPLIES: That's a blow for them as he's been a big influence for them both on and off the field. The players are really enjoying having someone of his quality and attitude at the club. He was still at training during the week, watching from the sideline with his arm in a sling; he's so integrated in the club.

Latham's a big loss but they've had a big gain in Willie Walker, who kicked some crucial points against Gloucester, the team he's on loan from and by all intents and purposes works for. Dean Ryan said he was happy for him to get game time; well Sunday evening must have been a very strange experience for him!

Bristol backlash

So who will come out on top this Sunday?

MILES REPLIES: Worcester can go there and do a job, but I've got a funny feeling about this one. I think Bristol are going to go for it and give it everything. You look around their team and there a number of potential matchwinners, such as David Lemi, Tom Arscott and Lee Robinson. They've got some really good players there, who in many respects don't deserve to be dropping out of the Premiership, if that indeed proves to be the case. I just think they'll want to prove a point to everybody this weekend, that they will be back and that Bristol are not finished as a club.

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