PRO12 winner Heenan hungry for another title

REGARDLESS of the shenanigans at Sale, Bristol flanker Jake Heenan insists nothing changes for his side as they aim for a five-point win and tilt at the Premiership title.

- NEALE HARVEY

While Sale’s Covid-19 related issues have shrouded the last round of regular season fixtures, Bristol must stay on task to give themselves the best chance of progress.

Heenan told The Rugby Paper: “What’s happened at Sale means very little to us because we’ve adopted a quarter-final mentality and we’ve got a job to do.

“When we played London Irish earlier in the season, they went down to 14 men and still came back to score a try and then got a penalty to draw 27-27.

“They’re a very good team, tough defensively and they don’t go away. With some teams you might be able to put them away early, but Irish keep coming at you and they’ve got a lot of enthusiasm and international quality running through their side.

“They’ve had a tough run of results, but they’ve been very competitive and they picked up a great win at Exeter in the week. We know there’s a big job ahead of us, especially if we want to get the five points to give ourselves the best play-off seeding.