Biarritz Olympique and Ulster Rugby go into Round 6 of the Heineken Cup on Saturday deadlocked on 17 points apiece - and Biarritz Olympique star scrum half Dimitri Yachvili accepts that priceless home advantage in the quarter-finals could well be decided by a single try bonus point.
Biarritz host 1998 champions Bath Rugby at Parc des Sports Aguilera while 1999 tournament winners Ulster travel to Italy to take on Aironi Rugby.
A 78th minute Ian Humphreys penalty goal earned Ulster the four points in a 9-6 win over the French club at a wind-swept Ravenhill in Round 5 and sends them to Italy in search of an identical 22-point finishing target as 2010 Heineken Cup finalists Biarritz, who went down to a shock 28-27 defeat in Italy in Round 3.
"That defeat in Belfast does not put our hopes of qualification in jeopardy - we are still in the mix," said Yachvili. "First and foremost we will prepare ourselves in order to win our next game and if we want a home quarter-final we will probably have to score tries and get a try bonus point.
"We will try to make amends for the mistake we made at Aironi and prepare for our next game as serenely as possible and as positively as possible.
"Our away game at Bath was really tight and we had a lot of pressure to win at all costs.
"This time, although we will be at home, the Bath players will probably feel more liberated and won't feel the same pressure as us so we've got to be cautious of that and make sure we impose our game from the start and play 100 per cent regardless of our position in the group.
"Bath will have nothing to lose and they will want to end the Pool campaign on a high so there is no question about it for us, we have to get the upper hand in all areas of the game and be strong if we want to dominate them and win.
"Bath have a lot of experience in the tournament and they are really strong up front - it has almost been their trademark over the past few years.
"Their pack is massive and the whole squad is solid, like most English clubs. Their forwards are well organised so we will have to measure up to them up front.
"We will have to try and dominate in both territory gained and at the set-pieces and be efficient in everything that we do."
While Ulster have won one more Pool 4 match than Biarritz, the French club have banked five bonus points - one in each defeat and a try bonus point in each win - while the Irish province have just the one try bonus point.
"It was important for us to come back from that trip to Belfast with something," said Yachvili. "The draw escaped us but we got a losing bonus point which will prove crucial to determine where we stand next week.
"However, naturally we are frustrated because we could have clinched a draw or even won the game towards the end when we stayed for a long time in the Ulster 22.
"But they won a crucial turnover in the last few minutes and claimed that late penalty so we can say that getting that losing bonus point was the minimum we could achieve and we will do our maximum to win next weekend.
"And it was never going to be easy to leave Ravenhill with a win anyway, what with their state of mind and those horrific conditions. A score of 6-0 at the break wasn't going to be enough knowing that the second period would be even tougher."