In the professional era players look to achieve financial security That is understandable

"In the professional era, players look to achieve financial security That is understandable. But if they are offered extremely large amounts of money to move clubs, I don't necessarily think we should become involved in a Dutch auction to keep them. I have great admiration for a player like Regan, though; he is a great club man who has already demonstrated loyalty to Bristol and I would be very upset if he went, even for the half a million he is worth."The bonus for Bristol on Saturday was that they achieved their seasonal double over Sale without the services of their three current international forwards. It was Collins who brought a touch of Test class to their back row; bald of pate he may be, but the 35-year-old Welshman made life distinctly hairy for his opposite number, Dylan O'Grady.All that seasoned sophistication rubbed off on the rest of an unfamiliar Bristol pack and on Eben Rollitt in particular. Rollitt had one of his bullocking days at No 8 and he was effective enough to get under the skin of John Mitchell, the Sale player-coach.

He rode a ferocious coat-hanger tackle from the tough New Zealander to help set up Tiueti's first try on the hour, clattered his rival with the mother of all rib-crushers a few minutes later - big glare from Mitchell, big grin from Rollitt - and then made the crucial hard yards beneath the visitors' posts to enable Martin Corry to sneak Tiueti in at the right corner for the wrap-up score.Mitchell was in a state of serious strop come the end and understandably so. The man from Waikato has spent all season honing Sale's competitive edge, and the way his charges frittered away what should have been a winning platform would have exasperated the most gentle of New Zealand souls.Chris Yates' straightforward knife-through-butter try in the second minute suggested that the absence of Sale's first-choice half-backs, Dewi Morris and Simon Mannix, might not prove too much of an inconvenience and, when Mallinder exposed Lewsey's defensive frailty to run in from 30 metres midway through the third quarter, the visitors' Heineken Cup hopes appeared to have been suitably refreshed.It was Bristol who drank deepest from the well, however, and that draught may yet prove an elixir. Davies believes five wins from six end-of-season league games will give his side an even chance of escaping trial by play- off and while that is a "big ask", as the Australians say, it is not entirely unrealistic.Bristol: Tries Tiueti 2, Eagle, Lewsey; Conversions Burke 4; Penalties Burke 2. Sale: Tries Yates, Mallinder; Conversion Verbickas; Penalties Verbickas 4.Bristol: J Lewsey; D Tiueti, F Waters, K Maggs, B Breeze; P Burke (P Hull, 80), R Jones; D Hinkins, B McConnell, K Fulman, P Adams, C Eagle, M Corry (capt), E Rollitt, R Collins.Sale: J Mallinder (capt); D Rees, C Yates, D Wright, S Verbickas; J Baxendell, J O'Reilly; M Driver, S Diamond, P Winstanley, D Baldwin, J Fowler, D Erskine (N Ashurst, 67), J Mitchell, D O'Grady.Referee: S Piercy (Goole).. It is little wonder that Dick Best should talk of staging a mini-World Cup at The Stoop next season during the month-long break for clubs while England play four pre-Christmas internationals, because on the evidence of this lop-sided match Harlequins could do with sterner tests than West offered.

That Quins did not run up a half century when a ton was there for the taking shows that professionalism here has yet to bring that ruthless cutting edge, which characterises the Southern Hemisphere game. But after the seven-try demolition of West, Best, their director of coaching, outlined his ambitious plans. "I had a tentative request from Tonga and we've pencilled in the Sunday of the weekend that England play New Zealand up at Old Trafford," he explained "But that set me thinking. What I would like to do is line up international fixtures on consecutive weekends so we can create our own mini-World Cup."We need to raise some revenue during that period. I know of no other business that shuts down for a month, which is ostensibly what we'll have to do while England play their four Tests."Prior to that, Best is looking into the feasibility of a pre-season programme, which would take Quins first to Tokyo, where they would play Auckland and possibly Brive, before heading to New Zealand and playing Auckland again in what would amount to the return leg of the sell-out match staged at The Stoop earlier this season.Link-ups such as these should sharpen Harlequins' game and teach them the need to maintain concentration for the full 80 minutes, something they did not show against West Hartlepool, who stole in for two tries which they deserved for the efforts of their pack, but would probably not have scored if their opponents had been more alert.Yet when Quins let rip they looked the million or so pounds they are, but Best admitted: "It was a stop-start game.