PARIS: Traditional English powerhouses Leicester and Bath face a make-or-break weekend in the European Champions Cup.
Eight teams from five groups will make it through to the quarter-finals, meaning the five group winners and best three runners-up will keep their continental season alive following the final round of matches a week from now.
But currently, the two second-placed sides sitting outside of that group are the Tigers, back-to-back winners in 2001 and 2002, and the first English side to be crowned European champions in 1998, Bath.
Leicester's situation is particularly drastic as their eight points leaves them five points off the current qualifying standard.
Anything less than a bonus-point victory at home to Scarlets on Friday night would virtually ensure they miss out on the last eight, assuming reigning champions Toulon maintain their dominance in Pool 3.
Bath are only a couple of points better off but have picked up their form after a difficult start to the competition saw them get hammered in Glasgow and then lose at home to record four-time champions Toulouse.
They travel to the south-west of France on Sunday knowing that they also need a bonus-point victory at the Ernest-Wallon stadium where Toulouse rarely lose, although they went down 16-14 there to Irish province Connacht last season.
It's also not so long ago since an English side in Harlequins came away from Toulouse with a 31-24 success in December 2011.
Toulouse centre Yann David is therefore not taking the Bath challenge lightly.
"Of course we're approaching this match as if it was in the knock-out stages. It's going to be a very difficult match against a huge team that have been very impressive in their domestic league," he said.
"We would really like to win because that would guarantee our place in the knock-out stages."
Toulouse are one of several sides who could do exactly that with victory.
The others are fellow French Top 14 representatives Clermont and Racing-Metro, who host hapless Italians Treviso in Pool 5, while Northampton could likewise progress.
All of those would guarantee they qualify for the quarter-finals with a bonus point victory, although in Toulouse's case any victory would be enough.
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