BRISTOL are under no illusions about the task facing them on Saturday when they travel to Twickenham to mark their return to the Aviva Premiership with a clash against Harlequins.

But they showed encouraging signs for the year in going down to defeat by 19-9 at Clifton RFC to Aviva Premiership stalwarts Wasps last Saturday.

The pack in particular stood up well to a tough Wasps eight and Bristol forwards coach Mark Bakewell said he was reasonably pleased with their effort.

Australian Bakewell said: "It was a really outstanding effort which we didn't maintain for eighty minutes.

"The first fifty minutes and patches at the end were really good and when we switched off, they punished us. That was the difference. They converted their pressure into points and in every facet, we didn't do the same.

"Had we converted our pressure into points, we would have come away with a comfortable win and that's the adjustment we have to make."

It has been a long summer for Bristol to enjoy their Championship win over Doncaster Knights in May, take a break and then get back into the sweat and grind of pre-season in preparation for Saturday's return to the big time.

Bakewell added: "There are so many positives that have come out of pre-season. The effort has been fantastic and the intensity has been fantastic. I think it is all about learning at this level. You have to take your opportunities and shut down their opportunities. That is probably where we were a bit shy today.

"I was pretty happy with the forwards. We dug in at scrumtime and dug in at maultime. We just needed that polish.

"We are certainly not going to walk off the field thinking 'oh dear we are not in this with a hope'. We are coming out of this positive on every level.

"There were some fundamental errors against Wasps in our attack and our decision making. We say it as a group that every time you make errors at this level, you get punished. So we got punished for our errors.

And now everything is pointing towards that date at Twickenham in the London Double Header that also features Saracens against Worcester Warriors.

Bakewell added: "Quins are a formidable side and we are under no illusions about how hard it is going to be and how we are going to have to defend in that game because they have some world-class attacking footballers in their backline.

"Although we are under no illusions how tough it is going to be, we are also very excited by it."