“ARE you willing to go to dark places and work really hard for each other?”

The answer to that question will determine whether Bath can emerge victorious against Sale Sharks on Friday night (7.45pm), according to scrum-half Will Chudley.

The Blue, Black and Whites travel to the AJ Bell Stadium looking to record a victory in Manchester for the first time since September 2014 while trying to remain in the hunt for an unlikely top-four finish in the Premiership.

Bath travel north to take on Sale off the back of a disappointing 29-24 loss to West Country rivals Gloucester a fortnight ago, and the club have since announced that director of rugby, Todd Blackadder, will be leaving at the end of the season to join Japanese club side Toshiba.

Blackadder’s side currently sit one place above their weekend opponents and victory for Bath could end Sale’s top-four hopes as well as giving their own a significant boost.

Scrum-half Chudley is predicting one of the toughest away games of the season and says Bath will have to dig deep mentally to secure a vital victory.

“Sale is a tough place to go, especially on a Friday night,” said Chudley.

“There’s normally not much of a crowd, it’s normally wet, so it’s not your ideal rugby conditions, but it’s actually a very good test for us because it’s a mental test up there.

“You have to show who you are as a person and as a team.

“Are you willing to go to dark places and work really hard for each other?

“The teams that have done that have been successful up there.”

With three games of the Gallagher Premiership season remaining, Bath sit just a bonus-point victory away from their desired fourth place.

Chudley is optimistic that the pressure will get to certain teams and Bath can be there ready and waiting to take advantage when they do.

He said: “The league is pretty crazy and with the situation of the league being the way that it is, if we win this weekend and other teams drop points, then we’ve got a great chance of getting closer.

“The closer we are to the top four, the more pressure it puts on those teams that are in there right now.

“With how it is with the top four and where we are, we know we have to win to have any chance of getting there.

“Our performances over the last month or so have been good, we just know that when we haven’t got the results, it’s been our own downfall and we’re trying to rectify that, so hopefully we’ll see that this weekend.”