Bristol coach Richard Hill, the former Gloucester director of rugby, said: "The front row with Dave Hilton coming in is just a normal rotational change. Alex Clarke and Dave Hilton have been playing equally well so, what we tend to do, is give them two games each.
"Jason Hobson keeps his place. Darren Crompton bruised his ribs at London Welsh so missed Sedgley Park and is not quite right for this one.
"Bernardo Stortoni is also still out with a tweak to a knee ligament which isn't quite right for this weekend but he'll be ok for next weekend. So, Matt Salter, Darren Crompton and Bernardo Stortoni are the three injuries we have on our list but all three we hope are just one or two weeks away.
"Unusually we've had little or no discussion about Gloucester this week. We're planning for the next two to three weeks of the league programme and Exeter particularly on Feb 5th. It's been good in a way because I haven't heard a lot of talk about Gloucester.
"The first 20 minutes will be absolutely crucial because they'll have had a kick up the backside, I imagine. Words like 'The Gloucester forwards have lost the respect of the Kingsholm crowd' that have come out of the mouth of Nigel Melville will have hurt.
"We know we've got a huge job and they'll have been stung into action. But, if we can be close to them after 20 minutes, I think the crowd will get a little bit restless and one or two doubts might creep in. That's all we can hope for.
"It'll either be completely over for us after 20 minutes or there'll be a very interesting game in prospect. If we do make it to the Premiership and we're looking to retain players, we have to be sure that they're capable of taking it up to the next level."
Recent signings, scrum half Hentie Martens, fly-half Mark Woodrow and flanker Craig Short are all 'Cup-tied'
Bristol Shoguns team
15 Sean Marsden
14 Marko Stanojevic
13 Rob Higgitt
12 Sam Cox
11 Luke Nabaro
10 Jason Strange
9 Ross Blake
1 Dave Hilton
2 Saul Nelson
3 Jason Hobson
4 Ed Pearce
5 Ollie Hodge
6 Chris Morgan
7 Joe El-Abd (Capt.)
8 Jim Brownrigg
Replacements
16 Greg Nicholls
17 Jonathan Pritchard
18 Adam Billig
19 Alex Clarke
20 Neil Clark
21 Rik Martin-Redman
22 Olly Kohn
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