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 fivepoint win and tilt at the Premiership title.
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.
“We’re looking to give our biggest performance yet and then if we do make the semi-finals, we trust we can get the job done against anyone. We’ve just got to concentrate on trying to get there and then once you’re into finals football, anything can happen.”
With only one full training session between last Wednesday’s convincing win over Leicester and today’s clash, Bristol’s energy reserves are being tested.
However, Heenan says: “We just had the one full day on Friday and the captain’s run, but the feeling within the squad is one of huge excitement. We’ve talked about how this is what we’ve been working towards, to play in these big games that really matter.
“Mentally, we’re in a really good spot, there’s nothing too much hurting us injury-wise and as a squad we’re very tight, having remained together throughout. Some clubs have opted to split their squads but we didn’t and that seems to have really paid off.
“The new boys have come in and done really well and guys like Semi Radrada, Max Malins, Ben Earl and Kyle Sinckler got on the same page pretty quickly. They’re good football players with good football brains so they were soon in tune with the other boys.
“It’s obviously tough with so many games but all you can do is put in the work. Having got past Bordeaux last week and given ourselves an opportunity to win a European competition, that’s huge for Bristol and it’s given everybody at the club a boost.”
A PRO12 winner under Pat Lam with Connacht in 2016, New Zealander Heenan, 28, adds: “There’s nothing I’ve enjoyed more in my career than winning Championships, whether it was at school or with my club sides back home, or Connacht four years ago. Winning championships is hard but I’m hungry for more and, as a group, we’re desperate to take that step.”
Bristol make 12 changes with Heenan alongside Chris Vui and Ben Earl in the back row. A new front row of Jake Woolmore, Harry Thacker and John Afoa start, with Ed Holmes joining Joe Joyce at lock.
Nick Phipps starts at scrum-half for Irish, who rotate the front row to include Allan Dell, Agustin Creevy and Sekope Kepu. Flanker Ben Donnell is dropped to the bench in place of Jack Cooke.