Saracens suffered Heineken Cup heartbreak against Biarritz at Parc des Sports Aguilera, losing a thriller 22-21 in the last second of the match.

Alan Gaffney's men took a deserved 14-9 half-time lead, limiting the French heavyweights to the occasional kick at goal, but the hosts moved up a gear in the second half.

But even then, and with the 9,000-strong crowd roaring their heroes on, Biarritz struggled to get clear of their rivals.

Saracens held a nerve-wrenching 21-19 lead two minutes into injury time but with one of the club's most famous victories within reach, Biarritz scrum-half Dimitri Yachvili shrugged off a mixed day with the boot to kick the match-winning penalty.

The visitors' back-rower Kris Chesney, playing his 300th match for the club, came within seconds of being part of an historic victory.

Chesney, 34, made his debut on the wing against Irish club Shannon in 1994 and has played under a dozen different coaches in the ensuing 12 years.

Yachvili stroked over the game's opening points but the applause subsided when quick hands gave Saracens' Fiji Test winger Kameli Ratuvou the chance to out-flank a disorganised Biarritz defence and dot down in the corner. Glen Jackson converted from the touchline and suddenly it was game on.

The French team's credentials as one of the favourites in the competition took a further battering as a pin-point chip-kick from England centre Andy Farrell gave winger Rodd Penney the chance to score a second try. Jackson twisted the knife with another superb conversion from out wide.

Yachvili's third goal narrowed the visitors' lead to 14-9 at half-time and he drew first blood in the second half with his fourth.

Heart-breakingly for the travelling fans, the crucial try came at the end of 10 minutes of Saracens dominance.

They were camped in the French half but took their eye off the ball as Biarritz number eight Samiu Vahafolau came off the back of a ruck to smash through two tackles.

The big Tongan showed another side of his game as a silky pass found winger Philippe Bidabe, who cut inside and then outside the final two defenders and stretched out to touch down on the line.

Sarries hit back when Ratuvou chipped ahead and second-rower Hugh Vyvyan did some great work to regather and set up a ruck 10 metres from the Biarritz line.

The visitors recycled the ball through two phases before Farrell dived over in the corner. For the third time in the game, Jackson slotted the extras from the widest possible point and Sarries regained their two-point lead.

A desperate Biarritz threw everything at the Sarries' line and earned a wide-angled penalty that Yachvili could not convert.

But just as home fans felt their players had let the game slip, referee Malcolm Changleng found one more infringement and Yachvili made no mistake from 40 metres out in front of the posts.