Double champions Leicester were knocked out of the European Cup on Saturday when they slumped to a shock 17-12 defeat against Edinburgh.
The Tigers, who were 2001 and 2002 champions as well as runners-up last season, saw their hopes of making the quarter-finals end when Pool Six leaders Toulouse garnered a losing bonus point in their surprise 20-13 defeat to Leinster.
That win in Dublin also kept the Irish province's outside hopes of a last eight spot alive.
French giants Biarritz, the 2006 runners-up, were hammered 45-16 by a formidable-looking Saracens in Pool Four and now need to beat Italian minnows Viadana in the final batch of group games and hope other results go their way.
Meanwhile, Gloucester lost their 100-per cent record in Pool Two when they suffered a 32-15 defeat against the Ospreys.
Leicester went to Edinburgh needing a bonus-point win to keep alive their quarter-final qualification hopes but saw the home side score the game's only tries.
Andy Goode's three penalties had the visitors in front at the break, cancelling out Phil Godman's converted try.
The kicking duo traded penalties at the start of the second half before Edinburgh powered back with a second try from hooker Ross Ford.
"The priority was to get a win with the hope that the contest would open up later on," said Leicester coach Marcelo Loffreda.
"We had three penalties in the last 10 minutes, yet didn't go for goal with a single one. If we'd kicked a couple of goals we could have put pressure on and the result might have been different."
In Dublin, Toulouse had lock Gregory Lamboley sin-binned for persistent infringements in the ruck, where Leinster hooker Bernard Jackman and man-of-the-match No.8 Jamie Heaslip were outstanding.
A try in each half from Luke Fitzgerald, as well as 10 points from Felipe Contepomi's boot, kept Leinster in the shake-up for a last eight place.
At Vicarage Road, Saracens underlined their credentials as title contenders by outplaying Biarritz in a five-to-one thrashing with former All Black lock Chris Jack scoring his first two tries for the English side.
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