Bristol v Bedford: Teams

Bristol and Bedford will battle it out in the British and Irish Cup final on Saturday.

At the Memorial Stadium, Saturday May 7, kick-off 5.05pm

Bristol and Bedford will battle it out in the British and Irish Cup final on Saturday. Bristol coach Paul Hull has named a starting line-up identical to his team that dominated Pontypridd in their 36-25 semi-final. That means full-back Jack Tovey has shaken off an ankle injury to retain his place. But there is a change on the bench as Mako Vunipola, who will join Saracens in the summer, replaces Marco Mama. The Blues have been hit hard by injury throughout the competition, and will once more be short on first-choice players in the final. Among the unfit to play are Sacha Harding, Ben Lewitt and Ian Vass, who is out with an ACL tear. However, Ollie Dodge's return to fitness has provided Blues director of rugby Mike Rayer with one piece of happy news. He said: "I am so proud of the effort that this squad has put in throughout the season and this is a fantastic opportunity to finish on a high and give all of our fans something to cheer about. "That said, we are going to have to do it the hard way and we couldn't have got a much tougher challenge than an away trip to the Memorial Stadium to face Bristol on Paul Hull's final match in charge."

Faith

The Blues are struggling against fatigue following their gruelling semi-final, but Rayer maintains high hopes for his squad. "We have been improving more and more in recent weeks and went through every single emotion during the game against Worcester. That performance took a lot out of the lads. "But it is a cup final, and motivating this group of players will not be difficult given what's at stake. "Everyone wants to lift a trophy and we'll be doing everything we can on Saturday evening to make sure it comes back to Goldington Road with us." Bristol coach Hull is also anticipating a challenging game - in what will be his final match after a 22-year association at the Memorial Stadium. Hull said: "We're expecting a real battle on Saturday. Bedford are a very strong side and we will need to match them in every department. "Following one of our strongest performances of the season in the semi-final, it made sense to keep faith in the same players who worked so hard to get us here." Bristol:15 Jack Tovey, 14 George Watkins, 13 Jack Adams, 12 Junior Fatialofa, 11 Dan Norton, 10 Ed Barnes, 9 Robbie Shaw, 1 Mark Irish, 2 David Blaney, 3 Darren Crompton, 4 Mariano Sambucetti, 5 Roy Winters, 6 Iain Grieve (c), 7 James Merriman, 8 Dan Montagu.
Replacements: 16 Ollie Hayes, 17 Wayne Thompson, 18 Mako Vunipola, 19 Darren Barry, 20 Richard Bolt, 21 Mark Davies, 22 Anthony Elliot Blues:15 Edd Thrower, 14 Handre Schmidt, 13 Myles Dorrian, 12 Ollie Dodge, 11 James Pritchard (c), 10 James Sharp, 9 Will Chudley, 1 Dan Seal, 2 Dan Richmond, 3 Phil Boulton, 4 Mike Howard, 5 George Kruis, 6 Gregor Gillanders, 7 Alex Rae, 8 Paul Tupai.
Replacements:16 Chris Locke, 17 Sam Walsh, 18 Sean Tomes, 19 Chris Goodman, 20 Darryl Veenendaal, 21 Tom Bedford, 22 Duncan Taylor