Trevor Brennan is poised to return to action with Toulouse for their crunch Pool 3 rapid-fire return against Northampton Saints on Saturday - but believes the presence of captain Fabien Pelous is even more vital.
Defeat at Northampton has left Toulouse playing catch-up and former Irish international Brennan knows the double champions cannot slip up again.
"We'll be going through the video to find the problems and work on our weaknesses - we are blowing very hot and cold at the moment," said Brennan. "We need to work on our consistency and we greatly missed the presence of Pelous, whose leadership is massively important to the team. French teams don't tend to travel well and, with the away wins becoming crucial for qualification, we needed to take our chances last weekend but we didn't.
"It was a game we could have won and we have made things very hard for ourselves. The loss of David Gerard with a shoulder injury means I'll probably be in the second row so we'll be moving the team about again.
"Obviously our preparation for the match was not ideal. The international players were not back until Monday and with the rest day on Thursday and travelling on Friday we really only had two training sessions before the game. However, every other team is in the same position and it's the price you pay for having international players in the team.
"To be honest, the Northampton match was one we were expecting to win. We were aware of their poor domestic form and their off-the-pitch difficulties and were hoping to capitalise on these weaknesses. Of course, when a team's got their back to the wall, they can just as easily become closer and stronger as losing form, and in the Heineken Cup, domestic form counts for nothing. We saw that on Saturday."
