Chris Paterson has warned Edinburgh's Heineken Cup rivals © Getty Images

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Players/Officials: Chris Paterson

Tournaments/Tours: Heineken Cup

Teams: Edinburgh | Scotland | Stade Français

Edinburgh skipper Chris Paterson has warned his side's Heineken Cup rivals not to count them out of contention for a quarter-final berth.

The Scottish side are currently four points behind French aristocrats Stade Francais in Pool 4, with a vital way trip to face Ulster on Friday night before Stade make the trip to Murrayfield in the final round.

Victory in Belfast will be hard to come by, with the home side level on points with Edinburgh and eyeing a quarter-final berth themselves. Paterson's men have not made the knockout stages since 2004, and remain the only Scots to do so.

"Make no mistake about it, there is still a lot to play for," he said. "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."

This season there is also the dangling carrot of a European Challenge Cup place should Edinburgh or Ulster fall short of ousting Stade from top spot. The third, fourth and fifth best Heineken pool runners-up this term will enter the Challenge Cup knockout equation, which also offers an outside chance for Pool 2 rivals Glasgow and Newport Gwent Dragons, who meet at Firhill on Friday.

Both sides are a long way, 13 points, behind Pool leaders Biarritz but could salvage their European ambitions with a strong finish.

"Although we have a good record against them, the fact they are riding high at the top of the league and the fact they've made Firhill a bit of a fortress means this definitely won't be an easy game," said Dragons head coach Paul Turner.