Steve Meehan praised Ryan Davis' comeback performance after the Bath fly-half came through his first Guinness Premiership outing in 17 months unscathed.

The 23-year-old overcame two major knee operations to return in Friday's 23-16 defeat at Sale – and lasted 73 minutes before tiring and being replaced by Eliota Fuimaono.

And head coach Meehan praised the fit-again No 10's contribution.

He said: "I thought the return of Ryan Davis was a very solid one, a very good performance. In particular, I thought his defensive effort was outstanding.

"You could see at times some of his skill execution was a bit rusty, but he kept taking that ball forward.

"He made a nice break in the midfield at one stage, and we saw him slip a nice pass to Nick Abendanon in the first half that gave us some go-forward. He's a fine player and he just needs an injury-free run now."

But while he was pleased with Davis' efforts, Meehan was not so complimentary about his forwards.

They endured a difficult evening at Edgeley Park as a Sale pack boosted by the returning Andrew Sheridan and Jason White took charge – and Meehan is demanding a better display when Wasps visit the Recreation Ground on Wednesday.

"The pack won't be happy with their performance, so they are going to have to make sure they concentrate, do all the basics well and are nice and aggressive against Wasps," said Meehan.