Bath coach Steve Meehan says his players believe they have what it takes to win a trophy after their 51-12 mauling of Bristol in the European Challenge Cup quarter-final on Saturday.

Australian Meehan said: “What is important is that this squad recognises it can achieve things.

“Heineken Cup entry through this competition would be fantastic, but lifting a trophy would be a great reward for the players.


“This was worth the wait – that’s for sure. It was a very good second half and some aspects of play were brilliant, but you can’t forget the first half when we made some errors that put us under pressure.


“We talked about things at halftime, that we had 40 minutes to enjoy the moment and play with confidence. This is a skilful team that’s getting better.”


Man of the match Nick Abendanon, who scored a hat-trick of tries, said:


“Our captain, Steve Borthwick, really got us up for this match. We’ve lost to Bristol three times this season, and he said to lose to them four times would be totally unacceptable.


“I never thought we’d put 50 points past them, but the win is a fantastic feeling.


“We haven’t lost a game in Europe so far, so these are big matches for us. We’re all looking forward to the semi-final.”