Bristol Bears will be hoping to get back to winning ways after being thrashed 64-10 by Wasps last weekend and Clara Nielson believes the club can use that hurt as motivation for victory.

Bears are currently in seventh position after recording one win and two defeats and they will face league newcomers Sale Sharks this weekend.

She said: “I think everyone is hurting, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing because we can use it a motivation.

“We’ve shown what we can do at times this season in both attack and defence, but we’re going to have to bring it all together this weekend and take our performance levels up a notch.

“We want to come away from the game with a good performance and most importantly a result. Everyone has spoken about making sure we leave everything out there on Saturday in the seventy minutes and I’m looking forward to seeing how we play on the day.”

Harlequins remain at the top of the table, closely followed by defending champions Saracens.

The fourth round of matches will all take place on Saturday.