Brive fear Pontypridd will be fired up for today's Heineken Cup quarter-final play-off by the legal ban on three of the Welsh side's players. "It's just the sort of thing to gee them up. I know it would us. They'll be even more determined to win here," said Brive prop Didier Casadei.

"But I would have preferred it if they had been allowed to play. I'm not saying we have forgiven and forgot what happened, but a good, clean match with both teams at full strength would have helped everyone get back to thinking about rugby."

Examining magistrate Brigitte Lesueur has refused to allow number eight Dale McIntosh, hooker Phil John and centre Andre Barnard to play. The players are under investigation following an alleged late-night brawl at Brive's Le Bar Toulzac six weeks ago.

Under French law, they cannot return to the Correze region while inquiries continue, and Lesueur refused to grant a temporary lifting of the injunction.

"Sporting interests cannot outweigh the risks to public order their presence might cause," she said. "Feelings are still running high in Correze and we want to avoid any further disorder."

Brive committee member Roland Guinjard regretted the trio had been banned and said: "I'm sure their presence would have given us a bigger gate."

But Brive coach Laurent Seigne had no regrets and said: "Pontypridd aren't the only ones to suffer. After the bar fight we were without `Titou' Lamaison and Philippe Carbonneau when we lost to Bath, and that result cost us an automatic quarter-final place."

Seigne appealed to both players and fans for calm: "I want us to win with dignity. Both the players and fans have got to be beyond reproach."

Brive will be without their Argentine out-half Lissandro Arbizu for the match as he will be in Buenos Aires for Saturday's international against Australia.

Number eight Lionel Mallier, sent off with McIntosh in that first match which Brive won 32-31 with a contested last-minute try, is not expected to play.