Exeter Chiefs face the prospect of going into Sunday's crunch European match at Connacht without their front-line tighthead props.
Both Tomas Francis and Moray Low went off injured in last weekend's agonising 28-26 defeat against London Irish.
Francis aggravated a back complaint in the first half, with replacement Low stretchered off early in the second period after injuring an ankle.
That leaves head coach Rob Baxter with just four senior props registered for Europe, although hookers Luke Cowan-Dickie and Greg Bateman started their careers as a prop.
Carl Rimmer moved across from loosehead against the Exiles last Sunday, with Alex Brown able to offer specialist tighthead cover. Ben Moon and Brett Sturgess have also played some rugby at tighthead.
Baxter, who is set to make a few changes to his starting line-up for the key Pool Two contest, said: "With the squad we've got registered for Europe and the injuries we've got, we haven't got masses of options when you consider we'll take 25 or 26 players over there with us.
"We've got to wait and see how the injuries we picked up at the weekend, notably at tighthead, are. Tom Francis had to stop at half-time with a bit of a reoccurrence of a back issue he's been having and Moray Low hurt his ankle pretty quickly after half-time.
"We do have options, Carl Rimmer went over and did very well for us and we've got Alex Brown registered in the group, and with Brett Sturgess we have four fit props."
On the injury-front, Baxter added: "Ben White picked up an injury to his knee in training last week, we're not yet too sure how that's going to come through but we're hoping he may be in contention.
"Ryan Caldwell is still out with the concussive issues he picked up a couple of weeks ago but Kai Horstmann did some training at the end of last week so hopefully he's there or thereabouts.
"We're slowly getting there and we're going to go over there with a good side, but we will freshen things up a little bit and get stuck into things."
Exeter head to Galway knowing the winners will be in pole position to top the pool and make sure of their place in the quarter-finals. As well as the five group winners, the three runners-up with the most points also go through.
The Chiefs are currently two points better off than Connacht, with the two French sides out of contention as Bayonne are a further nine points adrift and La Rochelle propping up the pool.
After this weekend's clash at The Sportsground, Exeter host Bayonne in the final round of fixtures while Connacht travel to La Rochelle.
The Irish outfit need a win this Sunday to be in with a chance of topping the group, while the Chiefs will back themselves to take the full five points against Bayonne six days later so it is not win or bust for Baxter's men.
And after four successive defeats in the Aviva Premiership, the head coach is pleased the pressure is more on the hosts than his players.
"We're going to go after the game flat-out," he said. "You could describe it as potentially as winner-takes-all, but interestingly for us the pressure is probably on them a little bit, which in comparison to the last couple of weeks will be a different challenge.
"They're at home, it's their opportunity to try to wrestle control of the group off us, whereas for us it's an opportunity to go over there and get stuck into a team that prides itself on their home record and how they've played at home particularly this season.
"It looks like we'll have to work very hard in what will be wet and windy conditions and enjoying some basic, old-school Westcountry rugby. That might be a nice way for us to re-set ourselves this week."
