LAST Friday’s humbling of local rivals Bristol is a statement of intent of how seriously Bath are taking this year’s European Challenge Cup, according to first team coach Tabai Matson.

Bath’s 57-22 success at Ashton Gate sees them sit in pole position pool four as they head into the final round of group games.

Pau travel to The Rec with Bath in control of their own destiny and while Matson knows that their French opponents will be no pushover, having secured a narrow one-point victory away from home earlier in the season, he is keen to see them build on last week’s dominant showing.

“On the back of the previous week’s performance, it is always good to bounce back and play well,” said Matson, whose side had lost three on the bounce prior to last Friday.

“Two-fold, it’s kept our chances in Europe alive and we are back in the hunt.

“We’ve actually been lucky during the last few months of winter, we’ve actually had ideal conditions often and sometimes when you are trying to be positive in the way you play, the conditions can really stifle that.

“It’s great on a good night, like Friday, to just unleash.

“I think it is always good to succeed in any competition you go into and we definitely want to keep our hopes alive.

“It sets up this weekend’s game really well. If we play well and get a bonus point, we could potentially get a home draw in the quarter-final, so that is the real focus.

“It’s an interesting one when you look back at the last month – who they have started and the way they play is very different.

“For us, we are going to focus on ourselves. We are at the Rec, three o’clock and we know if we keep our standards really high, we’ll put them under enough pressure to score some points.

“That’s the way we are going to start but, as we know, the French and the game we played in Pau; they caused us massive problems and are a menace at the breakdown.

“We’ll have to start well if we are to put them under enough pressure to score four tries.”