ALAN CHRISTIE at Parc des Sport Aguilera Shattered Glasgow suffered a painful late defeat as fired-up Biarritz came from behind to claim Heineken Cup revenge.
The Warriors had arrived in the south of France full of confidence after a surprise triumph at Firhill five days earlier, but despite another stirring performance in which they were in front for almost the whole game, they were pipped at the post.
The heartbreaking moments for the Warriors came in the dying minutes when substitute Samiu Vahafolau snapped two touchdowns.
The result kickstarted Biarritz's bid to secure a place in the quarter-finals, but Glasgow, must now pin their hopes on beating Viadana emphatically in Italy then earning a bonus point win against pool pacesetters Saracens in Scotland.
Even then, they probably need other results to go the right way to be certain of reaching the last eight for the first time in their history.
Biarritz made a spate of changes to their line-up, while Lineen had the luxury of retaining the same formation that did the business at home.
The reshuffle did give the Basques fresh impetus, but again they came up against an inspired Warriors team.
Glasgow couldn't have imagined a better start as they opened up an 11-point lead in the first quarter. It took them barely a minute to break the deadlock on a crisp Atlantic coast evening perfect for rugby.
From Dan Parks' kick-off down the centre, Biarritz were penalised for offside. As a result of backchat, the Welsh referee Nigel Owens marched the hosts back 10 metres to make Parks' strike a formality.
The early blow was an alarm call for the French and they began to exert pressure through enterprising handling and teasing positional kicks.
Glasgow's defence stemmed the wave of raids and their resistance was rewarded on the 18-minute mark when Parks banged over another penalty, again for offside.
Almost immediately, after a patient build-up, flanker John Barclay burst clear of a crowd of markers. It was a straight race from 35 metres between him and the American speed merchant, Takudzwa Ngwenya, making his debut for Biarritz.
Barclay found an extra gear to pounce for a remarkable try, though the conversion by Parks drifted past the post.
The local fans made their feelings clear and Biarritz returned to the offensive with another series of attacks. Brave tackling and clever marshalling by the Glasgow defence staved off a reply, but they were powerless to stop Damian Traille getting his team off the mark nine minutes before the break with a penalty.
Biarritz kept on battering away in the danger zone, but ferocious tackling and protection of their own ball enabled the Warriors to preserve their lead at the break.
The worried home management made wholesale substitutions at the restart in a bid to change their fortunes.
But there was more gloom for the local supporters when Traille sent a simple penalty flying wide of the target two minutes into the half.
The pendulum started to swing against Glasgow with Owens awarding free-kicks to the French for a delayed line-out throw and then a crooked scrum feed.
Then came the moment that set up the tension-packed finale.
Va'a, who had re-entered the action, was yellow-carded for lashing out in retaliation.
Biarritz spurned the chance of three points and instead went for position in the corner in their bid for a try.
Their enterprise paid off as the substitute Vahafolau plunged over for the score, goaled by Traille, and Vahafolau added a little sheen to the score after a Parks drop-goal attempt to win the game was blocked.
Biarritz N Brusque; T Ngwenya, P Bidabe (H Fa'afili 68) , D Traille, B Thierry (A Willemse 40); J Peyrelongue, F Cibray; E Coetzee (P Balan 40), B Noirot (B August 40), D Avril, J Thion, S Dellape, S Betsen (S Vahalofau 47) , I Harinordoquy, J Cronje. Subs: T Hall, M Bosch Glasgow B Stortoni; L Fa'atau, A Henderson, D Gibson, H O'Hare; D Parks, S Pinder (C O'Young 40); J Va'a (E Kalman 40), F Thomson, M Low, A Newman (O Palepoi 70), D Turner, K Brown, J Barclay, J Beattie. Subs: E Milligan, J Eddie, S Barrow, G Morrison Referee N Owens (Wal)
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