Ospreys have played nine European ties in France since Bourgoin and lost them all but never more closely than last month's encounter at Clermont where the Michelin Men usually sweep all before them.
Steve Tandy's team may have lost 34-29 but the two points they took home were as many as they would have for a lower-scoring draw.
The double reward for their magnificent finale, one bonus point for four tries and a second for losing within seven points, may well turn out to make all the difference when the final reckoning is made at the end of the six-match pool competition next month.
The halfway stage finds the Welshmen out in front as the leading GUINNESS PRO12 contender for the knock-out stages.
Securing the priceless advantage of a home quarter-final leaves them with precious little room for error, not just because Clermont are swimming in the same pool but the Exeter Chiefs as well.
They and the Ospreys have almost identical records - two home wins and one away defeat adding up to ten points from a maximum 15.
The first leg against Bordeaux-Begles at the Liberty last Saturday may have been much too close for comfort but nothing less than four points from the return will be good enough.
Like their Welsh rivals, Exeter are also in France at the weekend, at Clermont. The kaleidoscopic nature of the Pool 2 table means it will change again.
In the best of all Ospreylian worlds, they will go clear at the top with Clermont due in Swansea in the New Year before the potential decider at Exeter one week later.
In the eight years since outpointing a French team in France, the Ospreys line-up has changed to such an extent that of their starting XV at Bourgoin only one will be reappearing in Bordeaux on Saturday - Alun-Wyn Jones.
Paul James, back in the fold after a stint at Bath, was on the bench that day when tries from Shane Williams, Lee Byrne and Jonathan Thomas plus five kicks from James Hook amounted to a 28-21 win.
Ospreys starting XV at Bourgoin, January 2008:
Lee Byrne (retired); Nikki Walker (player-coach at Hawick), Sonny Parker (London Welsh team manager), Gavin Henson (Bristol), Shane Williams (retired); James Hook (Gloucester), Justin Marshall (retired); Duncan Jones (retired), Huw Bennett (Wales conditioning coach), Adam Jones (Harlequins); Ian Gough (retired), Alun-Wyn Jones; Ryan Jones (captain) Marty Holah, Filo Tiatia (all retired).
They are not the only GUINNESS PRO12 team preparing for a crucial engagement in France.
Ulster are in Toulouse on Sunday aiming to start where they finished in Belfast last Friday night after the performance of the last round.
As a tour de force it was special even by the standards of a province used to toppling the mightiest French teams at what was then Ravenhill, now the Kingspan Stadium.
This, surely, was the mightiest win of all, not least because nobody had ever stopped Toulouse scoring in almost 150 European ties.
To do that was a feat in itself. To do it while running in five converted tries on top of an early penalty to win 38-0 made the result one of the most phenomenal in the history of the competition.
In a weekend of contrasting fortunes for Ireland's other international fly-halves (Johnny Sexton, Ian Keatley and Ian Madigan), Paddy Jackson stole the show as the orchestrator of the Ulster landslide, albeit in tandem with Ruan Pienaar behind a dominant pack.
It evoked memories of a similar result at exactly the same stage of the pool competition, another overwhelming home win over another super-heavyweight and one which Ulster would do well to remember if they are to learn a lesson of history.
On January 10, 2004, a wonderfully crisp Sunday beneath a sky of cobalt blue, Ulster gave Leicester Tigers the warmest of welcomes.
They thrashed them 33-0 and Martin Johnson, fresh from raising the World Cup in Sydney a few weeks earlier, could do nothing but take it all on the chin.
That, though, was only half the story. At Welford Road six days later, Leicester avenged the beating by inflicting an even more severe one on their opponents. Ulster, thumped 49-7, were left with nowhere to go but out.
Leicester may have been a better team then than Toulouse are now and while Ulster will tread warily, they know that nothing short of another win will suffice at a venue where they once drew 35-35 many years ago.
If they get it, and the exhilarating manner of last week's victory gives them every chance, Ulster under director of rugby Les Kiss will have gone a long way towards repairing the damage caused by their opening home setback against Saracens.
They will be back in business with home-and-away ties against the Top 14's bottom side, Oyonnax, in the New Year.
Munster, undone by the Tigers in Limerick, must get their own back at Welford Road on Sunday if they are to prevent the English club running away with Pool 4.
While Leicester can boast a 100 per cent record at Thomond Park, the same can be said of Munster at Leicester.
They have been there twice in the European Cup, for a quarter-final in 2003 and a pool tie three years later, winning both. The mind boggles at what they would give to make it three from three from the final tie of Round 4.
The Warriors are back in Wales on Saturday night for the away leg against the Scarlets who drew their first try blank of the season in losing 43-6 at Scotstoun.
Their major concern will be to shackle Taqele Naiyaravoro, the champions' Fijian wing who responded to the hairline denial of an early try by ploughing over for a hat-trick.
Leinster may be heading towards an early exit after losing to Wasps, Bath and Toulon but their drawing power remains second to none.
Despite their predicament, more than 40,000 tickets have been sold for Saturday's appearance of the triple European champions at the Aviva Stadium.
In the Challenge Cup, two GUINNESS PRO12 teams head their pool with two more in serious contention.
Connacht's reward for the 25-10 home win over Newcastle, their tenth in twelve matches this season, gives them a commanding seven-point lead in Pool 1.
The Newport Gwent Dragons' emphatic 22-0 victory over Pau at Rodney Parade puts them one point ahead of Sale at the top of Pool 2.
The Blues' thrilling bonus-point defeat of Montpellier maintains their pursuit of Harlequins in Pool 3 while Edinburgh can take over from London Irish in Pool 5 provided they gain retribution for last week's heavy reverse at BT Murrayfield on Friday night.
Guinness PRO12 Zebre News
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