Defending champions Leinster are in danger of being without Ireland international hooker Richardt Strauss for their make-or-break final two Pool matches next month.
Leinster trail great rivals ASM Clermont Auvergne by eight points in Pool 4 after the French club did the quick-fire double over Leo Cullen's team.
And the champions are well aware that they now have it all to do to retain their title as no club who has lost both back-to-back fixtures has ever qualified for the tournament knock-out stages.
Leinster will be home to the Scarlets and away to Exeter Chiefs in the New Year and Strauss has undergone a scan on a medial ligament injury he picked up in the opening moments of the Aviva Stadium game and is expected to be out for around four weeks.
Strauss joins Luke Fitzgerald in races against time and although Fitzgerald has stepped up his rehabilitation programme this week he is still not sure of a comeback date.
And Leinster's defeat in front of a crowd of 48,964 meant it all added up to an unwanted first for Irish rugby in general.
It was the first time in the history of the tournament that all four Irish clubs lost on the same weekend.
Leinster, Munster and Ulster were all defeated in Round 6 in the 2006/07 season and while they went down to Clermont, Saracens and Northampton Saints respectively last weekend, Connacht Rugby were also beaten in their tie at Biarritz Olympique.