The Bears are 10 points clear at the top of Pool 4, having harvested 19 out of a possible 20 points from the first four rounds, but Lam is fully aware that Bristol have yet to secure a last-eight place and entertain their nearest challengers, Brive, on Saturday on the back of three straight domestic losses.

“We want to firstly qualify, secondly get a home quarter final,” Lam told the Bristol website. “So, we’re on track there, but we know that these next two games are massive, starting at home against Brive. We need a very good win – the ideal is to get five points, that’s the goal this week.

“We’ve got to improve as a team, we know that, but going into the Challenge Cup, we’ve done four great rounds to put ourselves in a fantastic position.

“Nothing is guaranteed, as we know, but we just stay focused on this journey. Teams before have done the first four rounds really well, but then blown the last couple, or got to a quarter and lost there. It’s a cup competition, so we go one game at a time.”

The Bristol boss believes Brive will arrive at Ashton Gate eager to avenge their 36-0 home defeat by the Bears in November in Round 2 and has warned his side to be on the alert.

“You saw [that] with Stade Francais – we beat them well at home and then away it was a lot closer,” Lam added.

“Sport is like that – when you play a team and beat them well, they’ll be pretty fired up, so we won’t get too carried away with what we’ve done in the past. We move on to the next challenge, starting this weekend.”

Bristol Bears director of rugby Pat Lam has vowed that the English club will not get ahead of themselves as they target a home quarter-final in the European Rugby Challenge Cup.