A PLACE in the Heineken Cup would be a dream for us - our ultimate aim is to play at the highest level of European rugby and we've got a great opportunity to do that through this competition.

Those were the words of Worcester Warriors' director of rugby Mike Ruddock after his side clinched a place in the quarter-finals of the European Challenge Cup with their 24-7 win against Montauban in France.

Despite being just one place off the bottom of the Guinness Premiership table and battling it out with Leeds to avoid the one relegation spot, Wor-cester are now just three places away from that Heineken Cup place after five wins from five in the second tier of European rugby.

Ruddock was understandably pleas-ed after a controlled and organised performance from his squad despite the horrendous weather in southern France.

"It's a really good win for us. We knew it would be tough, we knew it would be difficult so we planned to front up in the first-half and really take the game to the French," he said.

"We couldn't afford to sit back and let them come at us. I think we did some really good work and I was pleased with the way we controlled the field positions in the first-half in particular.

"Towards the end the French didn't like it; they got frustrated and started to throw some punches which is a compliment to our players really.

"We came across to France and did a good job on them in difficult conditions so I'm really pleased with the boys," he said.

Ruddock knew better than most how tough it can be to play at the Stade de Sapiac. His Ebbw Vale team lost against Montauban in the final minute a few seasons ago, so he was particularly pleased with the way in which fly-half Loki Crichton organised the match.

"He gave us a lot of control and that was the key area for us which we had talked about before the game.

"Even though it was very difficult around the base of the set-piece due to the conditions, Matt Powell did well and Loki controlled the tactics and kept us in the right areas so we were able to take our chances and score some tries. We've got to be pleased with that style of performance," he said.

Worcester could afford to lose next week's final group game, a home tie against Bucuresti, and still finish at the top of their pool, but Ruddock says they've got to now look at the season as a whole.

"We planned to come here with our best team and now that we've secured the victory we'll be able to make some changes for the game against Bucuresti," he said.

"The players coming in will be full of motivation as they've got chances to claim starting places with league games coming up but I am going to rest some of them.

"Pat Sanderson won't be playing as he had another heavy night and really put his body on the line. He deserves a rest next week and so do one or two other players, so there will be changes.

"That said, we need to put on a decent performance for our home fans as we haven't played that well in front of them during the last few weeks so we need to put that right," added Ruddock.

"We also want to celebrate as well and gain a good win to finish off the group rounds. We won't underestimate Bucuresti at all as they've got some Romanian internationals in their side but we're in a good position for a home quarter-final and a potential home semi-final as well."