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After last weekend’s fifth round of pool matches, the Falcons are one of only three teams unbeaten in the competition to date. There are now nine teams competing for eight places in the knock out stage and win or lose the Falcons will be in the shake up having already secured the position of group winners. However, if they win in Brive they will get one of the top two seedings which will guarantee home fixtures in the quarter final and, hopefully, the semi final stage of the competition. Defeat in Brive will probably give the Falcons a home quarter final but force them to travel for their semi final. Qualifying | "They do say that French sides play well at home but allow the vino to dominate away performances, but surely not to this extent." | | Kevin Williams |
As things stand Brive themselves are in a qualifying position as one of the best three runners-up and could find themselves travelling to meet Gloucester, London Irish or conceivably the Falcons again in the knockout stage. But to do that they need to get a home win on Saturday at the Parc Municipal. When the two sides met at Kingston Park, the Falcons dominated proceedings with a 51-19 victory that was given a certain respectability with an interception try and a horrendous defensive mistake that allowed Brive two quick tries which their play hardly merited. Such was the gulf in class that it is hard to think that Brive can close the gap even with the benefit of home advantage. Vino They do say that French sides play well at home but allow the vino to dominate away performances, but surely not to this extent. The latest unofficial European rankings put the Falcons at 21st with Brive some seven places behind. That might suggest an evenly fought contest and no doubt in the early stages it will be but the Falcons have the quality of players to do enough to win once again in France. Handful
 | | Potential matchwinner: Tom May |
Last Sunday at home to Borders it was good to see the return to fitness of Tom May and Hall Charlton. May in particular looked keen to attack and will once again prove to be a handful for the French. Rob Andrew has named a 24 man squad including Stuart Grimes and Geoff Parling but without Jonny Wilkinson for the trip and will be more specific once the squad have reached France. The Director of Rugby is under no illusion about the meaning of success. "If we win we are guaranteed a home quarter and, if we win that, a home semi. We’re not going there needing to get a bonus point, to win by more than 15 points or anything like that. Ugly "If needs be we can kick the corners and win ugly, that doesn’t bother us. We have a very simple equation - score one more point than the opposition. "We’re not going to take this lightly and say that we’re already through to the last eight, because we might end up with an away semi at somewhere like Gloucester". The Falcons have lost at the semi final stage in this competition on two previous occasions, a victory on Saturday will go a long way to preventing a third premature exit. On the basis of the previous meeting and recent form, the Falcons must be favourites to deliver.
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