Biarritz became the third French club to book a place in the Amlin Challenge Cup semifinals - and London Wasps the third English club to bow out - but the the French giants were given a real scare before edging hom 26-23 in the quarterfinal at Adams Park.

With Stade Francais Paris and Toulon already through to the last four Biarritz, who qualified for the Amlin Challenge Cup quarter-finals as one of the Heineken Cup Pool runners-up, looked to be cruising to a comfortable when 14 points clear after an hour.

But a young Wasps side refused to go down without a fight and two tries of their own had Biarritz hanging on in a grandstand finish.

Biarritz will now have home advantage when they meet the winners of tomorrow's final quarter-final between Brive and the Scarlets on Saturday, 28 April.

The big difference was French scrumhalf ace Dimitri Yachvili, who never missed a kick to end up with 16 points and leave Wasps Director of Rugby asking "did he make a mistake all game? He was outstanding.

"We have to be honest and at one stage in the first half we looked dead and buried but we showed a lot of determination and guts and with eight minutes to go it could have gone either way. We needed a bit of field position but just could not get that when it really mattered.

"They left at least three strong try opportunities out there but were still the more clinical side and I do not think we were either the better side or deserved to win the game.

"We have played three French teams in this season's Amlin Challenge Cup given good accounts of ourselves - we will be all the better for those experiences.

"We matched up to Biarritz in attitude but in knock-out rugby you cannot give anything away and unfortunately we did that."

Full back Ian Balshaw sprinted over for Biarritz's first try after 22 minutes and prop Eugene van Staden rumbled his way over for their second just seconds before half-time take them 17-9 ahead at the break, outside half Nick Robinson kicked three penalties in reply.

But Wasps were stung into action and, despite a couple more Yachvili penalties leaving them a mountain to climb, they so very nearly made it.

The exciting wing Christian Wade got their first and then centre Ryan Davis got the next and with Robinson on target with both conversions in the blink of an eye it was level pegging at 23-23.

But up stepped Yachvili to land his fourth penalty and drag Biarritz over the line with just minutes to spare at the end of a match full of twists and turns.

scorers:

For Wasps:
Tries: Wade, Davis
Cons: Robinson 2
Pens: Robinson 3

For Biarritz:
Tries: Balshaw, van Staden
Cons: Yachvili 2
Pens: Yachvili 4

London Wasps: 15 Hugo Southwell, 14 Richard Haughton, 13 Elliott Daly, 12 Ryan Davis, 11 Christian Wade, 10 Nicky Robinson, 9 Charlie Davies, 8 Sam Jones, 7 Matt Everard, 6 Joe Launchbury, 5 Richard Birkett, 4 James Cannon, 3 Ben Broster, 2 Vladislav Korshunov, 1 Zak Taulafo.
Replacements: 16 Nathan Morris, 17 Tim Payne, 18 Simon McIntyre, 19 Ross Filipo, 20 James Harris, 21 Jack Wallace, 22 Tom Prydie, 23 Tom Lindsay,

Biarritz: 15 Iain Balshaw, 14 Taku Ngwenya, 13 Charles Gimenez, 12 Dane Haylett-Petty, 11 Benoît Baby, 10 Julien Peyrelongue, 9 Dimitri Yachvili (capt), 8 Raphael Lakafia, 7 Benoit Guyot, 6 Wenceslas Lauret, 5 Pelu Taele, 4 Erik Lund, 3 Eugène Van Staden, 2 Eusebio Guinazu, 1 Yvan Watremez.
Replacements: 16 Romain Terrain, 17 Sylvain Marconnet, 18 Francisco Gomez Kodela, 19 Jean-Baptiste Roidot, 20 Imanol Harinordoquy, 21 Florian Faure, 22 Jean-Pascal Barraque, 23 Marcelo Bosch,

Referee: John Lacey