Bath Rugby have finished their away challenges in Pool 4 - and they are looking virtually home and dry in securing quarter-final qualification.
They are the only club to have taken maximum points from their four matches, they are eight points clear of Agen and are home at the Recreation Ground for their Pool 4 contests in the New Year against the French club and Bucharest Wolves.
The 2008 tournament champions and 1998 Heineken Cup winners beat Cammi Rugby Calvisano 39-5 in their final match on the road and now have the target of finishing as the top seeds from the five groups and so drawn against the least successful of the group winners in the last eight - avoiding any of the Heineken Cup runners-up in the process.
"We take this competition very seriously," said Bath head coach Gary Gold. "We want to play Heineken Cup rugby and this is one of the routes to that goal.
"The way the draw works it is important to give ourselves the best chance and to have a 'full house' of points would do just that.
"But we have not achieved anything yet and there is still a lot of work to do - we are only around halfway there.
"If you do get another Pool winner they are still a group winner but they are not a Heineken Cup runner-up and hopefully we can earn home ground advantage at the Rec.
"Are we in pole position? I hope so because that was our objective.
"The three away games have been taken care of and no matter who you play away in Europe they present challenges - adverse conditions, flying late at night and quick turnarounds.
"If you come through them and out at the other end successfully then that builds confidence and we are happy to have had those types of challenges."
