Diamond: We only deserved one point

BRISTOL director of rugby, Pat Lam, said his side had to play in a different way to secure the win.

He said: “It’s the third week in a row that it has rained so we have to play in a style that we don’t particularly like.

“We knew we had a real physical test on our hands and it will be the same next week at Exeter.

“After the interval, we gave away soft penalties and when the replacements came on we weren’t tight enough but we regularly practise playing with 14 and then 13 so we were able to grind it out.”

Sale’s director of rugby Steve Diamond was relieved to come away with a bonus point.

Diamond said: “We didn’t play very well at all and in the first half we were very poor.

“Both sides kicked the ball a lot. They kicked a bit better than we did and we gave away soft penalties so they got their noses in front.

“Before the interval, we didn’t get in their half but we improved after that, with the change of half-backs giving us some tempo.”

“However the basics failed us and our lineout didn’t get going, so I don’t think we deserved more than a point as we panicked when they went down to 14.”