Barry Davies - the former Wales international who swapped Carmarthenshire for the Correze with his summer switch from Llanelli Scarlets to Brive - is confident the French club can put down a telling European Challenge Cup quarter-final marker when they meet Newcastle Falcons in a key Round 5 match at Stadium Municipal on Friday night.

The clash, which will be televised live by France Televisions and Sky Sports, sees the clubs go into the showdown locked together on 15 points and 18 tries apiece.

"Newcastle's loss away to Connacht has really opened this Pool up and made things a lot more interesting from our point of view with everything potentially hanging on the match this weekend," said Davies, who scored 11 tries in 29 Heineken Cup appearances for the Scarlets and 36 tries overall for the Stradey Park club.

"We ran them close at Kingston Park, which is a tough place to go and win, so we were really pleased to come away with the losing bonus point although we could have won if a few more things had gone right on the day.

"Our away form in the past has been disappointing but that's something which is changing and we did very well to get ourselves back into the game against Newcastle. It was a great away performance.

"We have had a very difficult start to the domestic season but now we are starting to get ourselves back on track. We had some new faces - including my own - at the start of the season and it has taken a while for everybody to settle in.

"It's always tough when you come to a new country, and I had played for Llanelli for seven years so it was a bit of a culture shock coming over to France, but the club and the team have been great and I've settled in really well.

"It's great to line up alongside world class players like Steve Thompson, Ben Johnston and Ronnie Cooke and, with the squad we have, we should be very competitive in this tournament.

"Hopefully we are going to make it through to the quarter-finals but obviously it's a shame we won't be able to field Ben Cohen until then - he is another world class player who will bring even more experience to the side as well as being a top individual player - and it would be great if he could contribute from then on.

"We have got real ambition in the tournament this year because we have a very solid side.

"We want to do well in the European Challenge Cup as we all see this as a route into the Heineken Cup, but, with teams of the quality of Sale and Bath, it's going to be even tougher in the knock-out stages.

"It was great for the side to get some confidence going into the back-to-back matches against El Salvador as we had not scored many tries this season so for many of our guys to get points on the board was a real boost.

"Friday night will be a huge challenge but I think we're ready for it.

"They have some great players in a particularly strong back line and they've reinforced their forwards with the likes of Carl Hayman which will give us a real challenge up front.

"And if the likes of Jonny Wilkinson play, so much the better - we want to play their strongest team and we'll see how it goes on the night."

EUROPEAN CHALLENGE CUP - (All kick-offs LOCAL time)
ROUND 5

FRIDAY 11 JANUARY, 2008
Pool 2 Montauban v Worcester Warriors 18.30 Andrew McPherson (S)
Pool 3 Brive v Newcastle Falcons 19.00 Carlo Damasco (It) FR4 / Sky Sports
Pool 4 Sale Sharks v Petrarca Rugby 19.45 Colin Stanley (I)
Pool 5 Leeds Carnegie v Dax 20.00 Alan Falzone (It)

SATURDAY 12 JANUARY, 2008
Pool 1 Auch v Albi 17.30 Simon McDowell (I)
Pool 1 Overmach Rugby Parma v Bath Rugby 15.00 David Rosich (F)
Pool 2 Bucuresti v GRAN Parma 13.00 Cedric Marchat (F)
Pool 4 Bayonne v Montpellier 20.45 Neil Patterson (S) Eurosport France/Sky Sports
Pool 5 Rugby Calvisano v Castres Olympique 15.00 Tom Wigglesworth (E)

SUNDAY 13 JANUARY, 2008
Pool 3 Cetransa El Salvador v Connacht Rugby 12.30 Greg Garner (E)