Hi °C | Lo °C Scotland star Chris Paterson believes an Edinburgh victory over Ulster in the Heineken Cup tonight would be “like golddust”.
The tournament resumes with only runaway Pool Two leaders Biarritz confident of securing a quarter-final place.
Events during the next two weekends will determine this season's line-up for the first knockout round — and Edinburgh remain in contention.
Their last eight hopes, though, rest on them not only winning in Belfast tonight, but then beating Pool Four top dogs Stade Francais at Murrayfield tomorrow week.
Paterson said: “Make no mistake about it, there is still a lot to play for.
“For perhaps the first time I can recall since I started playing in the Heineken Cup, we are coming up to weekend number five and you still cannot tell with any degree of certainty just how the group is going to finish.
“Stade have put themselves in pole position with one more win than ourselves and Ulster but, so far, there is no real winner or loser in our group.
“Sometimes, after just a couple of rounds, sides can see they are already on the way out, but this pool is finely-balanced.
“We know we have performed poorly away from home, so we need to sort that out, and an away win on Friday would be like gold dust.”
If Edinburgh or Ulster fail to dislodge Stade from top spot, there is still the incentive of a possible place in the Amlin Challenge Cup quarter-finals.
The third, fourth and fifth best Heineken pool runners-up this term will enter the Challenge Cup knockout equation.
