Hill was frank in his postmatch summary but couldn't fault the effort put in by his players and was encouraged by the performances of those coming in.

"At this stage of the season it's always disappointing to lose, but as nothing rides on it in terms of where we finish in the table, it's not a loss where we are going to go and slit our throats."

"It was an opportunity for us to try out one or two new players in the squad. There are different objectives. No one likes losing, but quite frankly there are different objectives at the moment for Bristol."

"We had enough possession to have won. Try-scorer Tom Arscott could have had a hat-trick but two forward passes stopped him from doing that."

"We've just to try and make fewer errors against Sale. We're not far off it. It's not through lack of effort. It's just a bit of sloppiness creeping in."

"In the last four seasons Bristol have been playing pressurised rugby at this stage of the season - but this is the first time since I've been here that the pressure is off and we've four games to go and there's nothing riding on it."

"That said, the players are playing for their futures and their professional pride comes into it so that's why there's plenty of effort going in."

"The lads who came in, Iain Grieve, Luke Eves and Redford Pennycook, all did well. Nathan Budgett came back in and was fighting for everything."

"I can't really fault the effort. Individuals just have to sharpen up a little. Not drop, not lose the ball in contact and not give forward passes."

"It's not as if we've been pummelled. We've had plenty of territory and possession. We should have done a lot better and scored some more tries."

Q. Is the season starting to peter out a little bit?

"No, I don't think so. I'm going to start to rest players as each week goes by but that will give opportunities for other players to come in. So, we'll be looking for players like Redford Pennycook, Iain Grieve and Luke Eves to get more game time."

"Lee Robinson will be available shortly and Anthony Elliott back from the Sevens so we have people coming back. So, some players can rest up and start to prepare for next season."

"That's a big one for us. Not being at the Memorial Stadium next season means that we've got two tough years coming up."

"We need to get all our players rested and thinking about next year and ready for a huge preparation from the 16th June when we report back for the start of two very important years for Bristol."

Q. You have relied on the Memorial Stadium factor in recent times?

"Yes, we have. And, if we are way from the Mem next year, then we'll have to rely on the old guard, the people who've been at Bristol for a long time, to dig in for us."

"We'll keep that core squad together and they'll have to work very hard for each other and make sure that we battle for every single game."