BATH make the trip to Sale Sharks on Saturday (3pm) in the Aviva Premiership buoyed by their efforts in the European Rugby Champions Cup, in which they sit top of their pool after defeating three-time champions Toulon 26-21 at the Rec last weekend.

And back rower Paul Grant knows there can be no easing off the gas, despite his side’s creditable European efforts in the past fortnight The New Zealander said: “In both of our games against Toulon we were proud of our effort.

“I think we’ve been playing some pretty good rugby of late but possibly we’ve been slightly more accurate in the last few games.

“We’re expecting a good side to come up against in Sale. They always come out of the blocks fast in the first 20 minutes and we’ll be aware of that. They have got big, ball-carrying loose forwards and a back three that like to run it as well so we’ll have to be on our game.

“We’ve had a good look at them in training and we’ve got a couple of things up our sleeve to help us win the game, but it will be tough.’’