Brive picked up both bonus points with four tries in their 25-22 Pool 4 defeat at Border Reivers and captain Jerome Bonvoisin believes those points could swing the balance when it comes to quarter-final qualification
Newcastle Falcons are storming away at the top of the group with 14 points but, with the three best runners-up to go through to the last eight, Brive believe they can still make the knock-out stages.
"Getting the two bonus points has kept us in contention for qualification and I can't over-state how proud the whole club is of the guys who went out and played that game in Scotland," said back row forward Bonvoisin.
"We had to put out a young side last weekend as we have a lot of pressure from the domestic fixtures, so for them to have scored four tries in an away fixture against a seasoned Borders team is pretty impressive.
"Winning at home is very important to us but, given the performance of last week's team, I think we will give them another opportunity to prove themselves, rather than completely changing the line-up. We have a good record at home and the supporters are excellent so we hope to get a good result.
"We were looking at the European Challenge Cup as an opportunity to try new things and give some of our younger players the chance to get some high quality rugby without the pressure of the Top 14 but things are starting to look good for us in terms of qualification.
"With home games against Borders and then Newcastle and the only away fixture one against L'Aquila, we have a good run-in and we would certainly like to see ourselves in the knockout stages of the tournament.
"We escaped injury at the weekend and given the excellent performance of our team, the only likely change to last week's side will be the return of Damien Minassian who had to be replaced last week at the last minute by Peyo Capdevielle."
