Brive have set their sights on ending an 11-year absence from Europe's top table by qualifying for the 2009/10 Heineken Cup - and doing that as European Challenge Cup champions is a powerful option.
The 1997 Heineken Cup winners, boosted by the summer signings of players like England fly half Andy Goode and Wales back row forward Alix Popham, are in pole position in Pool 4 as they prepare to face Newcastle Falcons at Kingston Park on Saturday night in a contest that has all the makings of being a quarter-final decider.
The Falcons stunned Gloucester Rugby with a 10-7 win at the weekend to provide themselves with a real lift but Arnaud Méla, the club's French international lock who will celebrate his 29th birthday two days after the key match, makes it clear where the club's ambitions lie.
"Our aim is to be in the Heineken Cup next season - whether we achieve that by being amongst the top six of the French Championship or by qualifying through the European Challenge Cup," he said.
"Either way, we are currently in the top six and we intend to play the Challenge Cup at 100% and win our remaining games, which means we are well within our target.
"However, playing Newcastle on their turf will prove difficult as it's always tricky to go away in Britain and their play is based on a very physical challenge, like most British teams.
"We can only hope to do as well as we did in the first leg when we win 36-22 and snatch a good result and we have to make the most of what we know about them as we have a good knowledge of how they play.
"They currently stand in 11th position in the Guinness Premiership but nevertheless it'll be a tough game - on paper they have good players and you never how high their potential could prove.
"The game is definitely ours for the taking because we have a lot of quality players among us and, in being totally focussed in our approach, we can win. All our 30 plus players are eligible to be in the starting XV and we can work around that. We have strong individuals and key players and we have, eventually, gelled as a strong team.
"If we finish first in our Pool we could play the quarters at home and that would be fantastic and rewarding for all of us and the efforts we've put in. It is an interesting tournament and it is clear that all English clubs commit 100 per cent to European rugby, whether it is the Heineken Cup or the European Challenge Cup, so it's something we look forward to as well.
"I didn't play against Newcastle in the first leg back in October so it'll be a first for me but we have British players in our squad which helps a great deal when approaching a game against an English team.
"In Round 2 no-one was surprised by their style and we were well prepared to take them on. We managed to beat them at home and that was a good achievement especially after losing against Overmach Parma in the first round.
"I think we made a big mistake in our preparations for that match, we were probably too complacent and not professional enough in the way we approached that away game.
"We played against a brilliant Italian team and they deservedly beat us so I suppose that defeat gave us a wake-up call for the following rounds and we reacted by winning against Newcastle and then Cetransa El Salvador - but that faux pas in Italy could cost us dearly come the knock-out stages.
"Coming from Albi, I don't have any great experience of European club rugby but now that I am with Brive, the ambitions of the club are such that I can see how important this tournament is.
"It is the first season for quite some time that our objective is to win the European Challenge Cup and we take that seriously and we approach each game the same way we would do in the Top 14 - it is equally important for us.
"We also see that tournament as an opportunity to give some play time to the less experienced players, to make some changes and test their skills. We are lucky enough to have enough players in our group to present a good quality team even when we rest our more experienced players. Although it is only my first season with Brive, I believe I fit in well in this group where there is a good spirit and atmosphere.
"Our 19-9 home win against Toulon at the weekend means we are currently sixth in the Top 14 and we are top in our Pool in the European Challenge Cup, so we are pleased with these results considering we had a very difficult start to the season.
"Since then we have gained confidence and shown solidarity and we knew it would pay off in the end. Now our game seems to take the shape we want and we are able to produce good results."
