Bristol v Leicester - Teams

Bristol prop Alex Clarke makes his first start for almost three months against Leicester Tigers on Friday evening.

The return of Clarke is one of several changes that head coach Paul Hull makes following the defeat at Bath last weekend.

The back three is reshuffled with Luke Arscott returning at full-back and brother Tom resuming his usual berth on the right wing. David Lemi is named on the left wing having recovered from injury.

Luke Eves is away on England Under 20 duty so Nathan Brew moves in off the wing to partner namesake Neil in the centre.

Clarke's comeback means Mark Irish drops to the bench, while Mark Regan will make his 200th Guinness Premiership appearance at hooker.

Regan becomes only the fourth player to reach the milestone, following in the footsteps of Simon Shaw, Kris Chesney and Hugh Vyvyan.

Robert Sidoli, back after a lengthy injury enforced absence, replaces Nathan Budgett, who has a sore Achilles, in the second row and Alfie To'oala packs down on the blindside.

Hipkiss passed fit

England international centre Dan Hipkiss returns to the Leicester Tigers line-up.

The recall of Hipkiss, after missing the last seven matches with injury, means a switch to the wing for Matt Smith and a move to full-back for Scott Hamilton in the absence of Geordan Murphy.

In the forwards, Mefin Davies takes over at hooker, Dan Cole is named at tighthead and Marco Wentzel covers for a number of absentees in the back row.

There is a place on the bench for wing Tom Varndell, who is back on club duty after playing at the IRB World Sevens in Dubai last weekend. Flanker Ben Herring returns to the match-day 22 after an eight-week injury lay-off.

Harry Ellis, Toby Flood, Tom Croft and Julian White are on international duty with England, while Martin Castrogiovanni, Benjamin Kayser and Murphy also have RBS Six Nations commitments.

Johne Murphy (hamstring), Jordan Crane (knee), Brett Deacon (foot), Seru Rabeni (knee), Lewis Moody (ankle), Richard Blaze (foot) and Craig Newby (hamstring) are sidelined by injury. Martin Corry is unavailable due to suspension.

Bristol: 15 L Arscott, 14 T Arscott, 13 Nathan Brew, 12 Neil Brew, 11 D Lemi, 10 E Barnes, 9 S Perry; 1 A Clarke, 2 M Regan, 3 D Crompton, 4 R Winters, 5 R Sidoli, 6 A To'oala, 7 J El Abd (capt), 8 D Ward-Smith
Replacements: 16 O Hayes, 17 W Thompson, 18 M Irish, 19 M Sambucetti, 20 R Pennycook, 21 H Thomas, 22 C Ashwin

Leicester Tigers: 15 S Hamilton, 14 M Smith, 13 D Hipkiss, 12 A Mauger (capt), 11 A Tuilagi, 10 S Vesty, 9 J Dupuy; 1 M Ayerza, 2 M Davies, 3 D Cole, 4 L Deacon, 5 B Kay, 6 M Wentzel, 7 B Woods, 8 B Pienaar
Replacements: 16 G Chuter, 17 S Bonorino, 18 D Hemingway, 19 B Herring, 20 B Youngs, 21 D Hougaard, 22 T Varndell