Paul Hull has expressed his confidence in the long-term future of Bristol after their latest Guinness Premiership defeat to Bath.
"It's the start of a new dawn," new coach says as Bristol prepare for relegation
Paul Hull has expressed his confidence in the long-term future of Bristol after their latest Guinness Premiership defeat - a 45-8 loss to neighbours Bath.
Hull may have taken over from Richard Hill last month but both the results and Bristol's position in the league table - rock bottom - remain the same.
His side conceded six tries at the Recreation Ground and face almost certain relegation.
Nevertheless, Hull said: "I wouldn't have taken this role if I didn't have confidence in the club.
"We'll control what we can control. It's the start of a new dawn. It looks like we might not be playing in the Premiership but the nucleus is there with the seven signings we made this week."
Bristol led briefly but were eventually overwhelmed.
Hull added: "We set out our stall to go in at half-time within a couple of scores so when we turned round just nine points down I wasn't too disappointed.
"We started well after the break and showed some fight but the pressure told. Bath got into their stride and scored four good tries.
"Shaun Perry has had a bad calf all week and we knew he might not last the full term. We made the substitution, lost Haydn Thomas to a yellow card and when we were down to 14 men we conceded two tries."
Promising
Hull could at least point to some promising performances among his youngsters, particularly from hooker Ollie Hayes.
"Ollie was chucked in at the deep end when David Blaney went off early on and did really well under trying circumstances," Hull said. "I was really pleased with him."
Full-back Joe Maddock marked his 100th appearance for Bath with two touchdowns, while Alex Crockett also scored two tries and Butch James finished with seven successful kicks from eight attempts.
Bath head coach Steve Meehan was quietly satisfied with his team's performance after a mixed set of results in recent weeks.
He said: "The first half was a reflection of the training we have put in this week when we didn't overload the players. The second half was a result of sticking with the plan.
"I thought our midfield gave us a lot of direction. We were able to move the ball wide - and the passing was pretty accurate.
"We are now going to have three days off and come back on Wednesday to prepare for our trip to Saracens next weekend."
Two tries on his landmark appearance provided further cause for celebration for Maddock who said: "I would have been happy with one try - two was great. After the last couple of weeks the team's performance was important though."
