Champions Cup qualification was the target head coach Pat Lam set his Bristol Bears side at the start of the season.
Most observers thought that was widely ambitious but it is still mathematically very much in their hands in the Gallagher Premiership, with 25 points still up for grabs and the club currently sitting in ninth place, five points off the final qualifying place of sixth.
Victory in The Clash, their next league game against Bath at Twickenham on April 6, could see the Bristol Bears move into that top six.
But this weekend all attention switches to Europe.
Qualification for Europe’s premier tournament sees the Gallagher Premiership and French Top 14 each get six places and the Guinness Pro14 seven.
That leaves one other spot in the 20 team competition. That goes to the winner of the Champions Cup, but if they have automatically qualified via their final position in their respective leagues that qualifying place then transfers to the Challenge Cup.
First in line are the winners of the cup, if they have already qualified then next in line are the losing finalists, and if they have qualified already then the two losing semi-finalists from the Challenge Cup will compete in a play-off for the final place.
Which means, if Bristol can beat La Rochelle this weekend in the quarter-finals of the Challenge Cup they have a great chance of earning qualification to the Champions Cup via the backdoor.
However the French side will be thinking the same thing as they currently sit seventh in the Top 14, outside of the automatic qualification places as well.
Worcester Warriors, who play Harlequins at home on Saturday night, are the third team in the quarter-finals who currently don’t sit in an automatic Champions Cup qualification place.
The other quarter-finals sees Sale Sharks take on Connacht on Friday night and Clermont play Northampton Saints on Sunday night.
All eight clubs in the quarter-finals of the Champions Cup are currently in qualifying positions for next year’s tournament, although Edinburgh, who sit fourth in Conference B of the Pro14 would have to compete in a play-off with Cardiff Blues, who sit fourth in Conference A, if the table finishes as things currently stand.
But the situation certainly gives Lam and his players some extra motivation going into the match.
Bristol Live will be out in France live blogging La Rochelle v Bristol Bears, bringing you all the team news, build-up, live action, reaction and highlights. Make sure you follow it all.
