Brive's hooker Steve Thompson will warn his team-mates they still have a major challenge on their hands when they meet Overmach Rugby Parma at Stadium Municipal on Thursday night.
Brive are flying the flag for France in the hunt for European Challenge Cup quarter-final places - but former England hooker Steve Thompson will warn his team-mates they still have a major challenge on their hands when they meet Overmach Rugby Parma at Stadium Municipal on Thursday night.
Brive, the 1997 Heineken Cup champions, are in pole position in Pool 4 after beating Newcastle Falcons 10-9 in the most testing of conditions at Kingston Park in Round 5.
"This is going to be a tough game," said the player who starred for the 2005 British and Irish Lions in New Zealand.
"We came a cropper in Parma by chasing tries from the first minute so getting a solid start is paramount and then looking to build on that, if possible, after the first half hour or so.
"We know that getting the home quarter-final is probably going to come down to tries and it's something we're going to look at this week.
"Ben Cohen has been working really hard and Norman Ligari is a great finisher so we have the fire power to get the tries. Having said that, winning the game is going to be more important and we are cautious of getting ahead of ourselves.
"And having this game at home is a real boost. The fans are getting more and more behind us and buying into this tournament so we should get a lot of support on Thursday.
"We are really confident going into this game. We had a narrow loss to Perpignan but the wins against Toulon and Newcastle have really boosted the morale in the camp and we're looking forward to this weekend.
"Getting a home quarter-final would be great for the fans and the club. We'd love to give our supporters the chance to see us play a knock-out game at home, but home games are less important to us than they used to be.
"We used to have the traditional French problem of not winning away but we have got some key victories on the road now and, with the win at Kingston Park under our belts, there is a real belief that home games are not the only winnable ones.
"And last weekend was great. I played for so many seasons in the English Premiership and I only won a couple of times at Kingston Park so getting that win was fantastic!
"But while European rugby is very important for all of us, it is particularly important for those of us who are from abroad.
"The European Challenge Cup gives us exposure and counteracts the "out of sight, out of mind" problem we could face playing abroad.
"Andy Goode's call-up by England shows that we are not dropping out of sight and off the radar by playing in the Top 14.
"As a club the fact that we have not been playing at our best but still getting the results is testament to the quality we have built up in the side.
"We're not scoring a lot of tries in the Top 14 but when we cut loose against Mont de Marsan and Dax we were able to really rack up the points."
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