Biarritz Olympique lived up to their billing as hot favourites for the Heineken Cup as they despatched a brave Saints side 22-10 at Parc des Sports Aguilera on Sunday.

Last season's finalists scored four tries in the first 45 minutes before going off the boil.

And if Dimitri Yachvili had kicked goals like England fans know he can, the damage could have been worse.

As it was, the Saints were inches short of an injury-time bonus point for finishing within seven points.

The Saints' pack dominated the early lineouts, but had no answer to the size and pace of the French club's backline out wide, with huge Fijian Sereli Bobo scoring two first-half tries.

Saints winger Sean Lamont showed brief glimpses of the same damaging running which Bobo created havoc with, but the Scotland international was woefully under-used.

Yachvili missed an early kick at goal and repeated the effort when trying to convert the game's opening try, scored by Bobo after some terrific work at the breakdown from the Biarritz backrow.

The Fijian's opposite number Johnny Howard, on the wing in the place of shoulder-injury victim Ben Cohen, gave the visitors their first points with a penalty goal on the quarter mark.

But the Saints had no answer to a wave of attacks and backrower Mohammed Dridi doubled his side's score with a try in the corner.

Scottish referee Malcolm Changleng began penalising the home side at the breakdown, but Howard missed a shot at goal from in front, and Chris Wyles ruined the next points-scoring opportunity with a knock-on.

The mistakes came back to haunt the Saints as Biarritz powered back upfield, and the impressive Bobo muscled his way over for his second try, awarded by the television referee.

Yachvili missed his fifth shot at goal, and Howard followed suit as the home side took a deserved 15-3 lead into the break.

The French heavyweights secured a bonus point for four tries in the opening exchanges of the second spell, with hooker Benoit August being shoved over the line.

The try brought the 11,000-strong crowd to their feet, and they stayed up to cheer Yachvili's first goal of the afternoon.

With the bonus point in the bag, Biarritz shut up shop and simply defended until the Saints made their inevitable mistake.

The tactics worked until the 73rd minute, when a clever chip through from replacement Ian Vass was pounced on by Howard for the Saints' opening try.

Howard's superb sideline conversion made it a 12-point match and gave the visitors a sniff of a losing bonus point, but time ran out and Paul Grayson's men were left to rue their poor finishing.