Quintet to stay at Bristol

Richard Hill has received a big boost with the news that five players have signed new deals.

Neil Clark, Dave Hilton and Craig Short have all signed one-year extensions with David Lemi and Wayne Thompson staying for a further two years.

Hill said: "We've made some good progress on the re signings. That's another five done and I'm trying to get as many done as I can so that players know where they stand."

"It's that strange time of the year where the form of some clubs can tail off a little bit because certain players can begin to wonder whether they've got a contract or not at the end of the year and their mind can wander a bit.

"The Bristol board have been really good to me. Dave (Hilton) might otherwise be thinking where he stands and contemplating retirement. Now he can go full steam ahead and put everything into this year.

"As for Dave Lemi, we've seen enough of him so far to realise that he's a very high quality player and we've signed him to a new deal before anyone else tries to snap him up!"

Bristol agreed agreed contract extensions with Danny Grange, Jason Strange, Sam Cox and Greg Nicholls earlier in the month.