Brive's big summer signing Alix Popham could miss the start of the European season through injury.
Popham has six weeks to recover from the fractured hand he sustained in his side's French Championship meeting with Perpignan last Tuesday before his side embark on their European Challenge Cup campaign.
With the reported recuperation expected to take up to six weeks, his participation in the Pool 1 opener against Overmach Parma is in question.
The Wales international was bought in to bolster the Brive back row. Popham has played both at No.6 and No. 8 for his country and his former club, Llanelli Scarlets.
The French side will participate in their ninth straight European Challenge Cup. They have been knocked out at the quarter-final stage for the past three years.
Their finest hour in Europe came in 1997 when they beat Leicester 28-9 in front of 41,664 at Cardiff Arms Park to lift the Heineken Cup in its second season.
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