Graham insists fighting spirit is here to stay as Saints prepare to battle the Bears

The black, green and gold were clearly up for the battle at Sale Sharks on Sunday, scrapping so hard in a 20-15 defeat.

Saints were left to rue missed opportunities as they saw the game just slip through their grasp at the end, Sale holding out with 14 men.

And now the focus turns to facing a Bristol side who secured an impressive Gallagher Premiership opening-night win against Leicester Tigers at Ashton Gate last Friday.

"All roads lead to Bristol now and we've got to move on to the next one very quickly," said Graham, who started at No.8 for Saints against Sale.

"Bristol have got different threats but we're going to go with the same mentality - that we're here for a fight and we're not going to go away for 80 minutes."

Saints had not won at Sale since 2017, but they came agonisingly close as they pushed Alex Sanderson's men all the way at the weekend.

"The nice thing is that we managed to put the way we want to play on the pitch for the large majority of the game, which is what we've been working on and it's clear to see," Graham said.

"The sad thing is that we didn't quite marry that up with some of our discipline and we didn't take our opportunities at the end.

"But for 90 per cent of that game we did everything we needed to do. It's just gutting we didn't come away with the win.

"We matched them, and some.

"We still managed to run them ragged while bringing that physical edge we need.

"A lot of our defence was very good and the disappointing thing was that we just gave them the opportunities they wanted.

"If we can eradicate that and keep our physicality, we'll be in a really good spot.

"We knew we were coming here for a fight and it's exactly what we wanted. We wanted that challenge to kickstart our season.

"We've come out on the wrong side of the result, but it's going to stand us in good stead going forward.

"Sale are a very good team, all credit to them, but it was all about us and what we can bring to the table.

"It's just disappointing we didn't quite execute at the end."