English giants Leicester and Wasps, with three European Cups between them, believe quarter-final home advantage can help propel them into the last four of this year's tournament.
Leicester, champions in 2001 and 2002, will meet Stade Francais in their quarter-final at Welford Road in a rematch of their 2001 final.
"I am just delighted that we are into the last eight after coming through a tough pool," said Leicester coach Pat Howard, whose side made sure of their place in the knockout round with a historic 13-6 win at Munster.
PHOTO: AP
It was the first time the defending champions from Ireland had lost a home European tie at their Limerick fortress.
"After losing our first game [against Munster], it was a fantastic effort from the squad to win five in a row and it was obviously a special night when we won in Limerick. It has also allowed us to go another step, and now we face another tough tie, but we know we can compete against anyone," he said.
Wasps, the 2004 winners, ground out a 16-13 win at Castres in their final group game and will now take on Leinster at home.
"We were fighting for a home quarter-final berth, and it is great to have achieved that," Wasps hooker Raphael Ibanez said.
"It will be a brilliant day, and I know our fans are already looking forward to it. We have not had the best record in Europe recently, so it is great to still be in the hunt for the Premiership title and a European Cup semi-final place," he said.
Llanelli underlined their credentials as real contenders with a 20-16 win over London Irish to set up a home quarter-final clash with defending champions Munster.
The Welsh team, which had already qualified for the last eight with five wins out of five, made it a perfect six for 27 points and go through to the knockout stage as second seeds.
The top seeds will be Biarritz, who topped Pool 6 by defeating Northampton 17-6.
The French giants will clash again with the Englishmen, who went through as a best runner-up, in the quarter-finals but on home soil over the weekend of March 30 to April 1.
"I am very proud of what we have achieved in this competition so far," Llanelli director of rugby Phil Davies said.
"I was pleased with the win and the fact that we have got a home quarter-final. We were a bit sloppy at times, but you have to give London Irish credit for the way they played, they kept the ball extremely well," he said.
Northampton needed to beat Biarritz in Pool 6 with four tries and not concede a bonus point if they were to have any hope of booking a home tie in the last eight.
They had the better of the first half exchanges but had only a Carlos Spencer penalty to show for their efforts which was matched by Dmitri Yachvilli's drop goal.
Andrea Masi and Sireli Bobo scored tries for the visitors after the interval with the Saints seeing Sonae Tonga'uiha crossing for a late consolation try.
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