Former Springbok captain John Smit will make his first start for Saracens when they travel to France to play Biarritz in their European Cup clash on Saturday afternoon.

The English outfit, who ran in five tries in their impressive 42-17 win over Treviso last weekend, will know an away win against the twice beaten Heineken Cup finalists would be a massive statement.

But the French side, who were finalists in 2006 and 2010, have an impressive pedigree on home turf, losing only four of their 38 Heineken Cup games at the intimidating Stade Aguilera since 2000.

Biarritz will be looking to get their campaign back on track after the disappointment of their 28-21 defeat to the Ospreys, despite salvaging a losing bonus point in Swansea last weekend.

Saracens, who are only in their fifth season of Heineken Cup rugby, reached the semifinals of the tournament in 2008 when they lost 18-16 to Munster at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry.

The teams:

Biarritz Olympique: 15 Dane Haylett-Petty, 14 Taku Ngwenya, 13 Benoît Baby, 12 Damien Traille, 11 Iain Balshaw, 10 Marcelo Bosch, 9 Luix Roussarie, 8 Raphael Lakafia, 7 Imanol Harinordoquy, 6 Benoit Guyot, 5 Erik Lund, 4 Jérôme Thion, 3 Sylvain Marconnet, 2 Benoit August, 1 Fabien Barcella.
Replacements: 16 Arnaud Heguy, 17 Yvan Watremez, 18 Francisco Gomez Kodela, 19 Pelu Taele, 20 Florian Faure, 21 Yann Lesgourgues, 22 Julien Peyrelongue, 23 Ilikena Bolakoro.

Saracens: 15 Chris Wyles, 14 David Strettle, 13 Owen Farrell, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 James Short, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Ben Spencer, 8 Ernst Joubert, 7 Jacques Burger, 6 Kelly Brown, 5 Hayden Smith, 4 Steve Borthwick, 3 Matt Stevens, 2 John Smit, 1 Rhys Gill.
Replacements: 16 Jamie George, 17 Deon Carstens, 18 Carlos Nieto, 19 Mouritz Botha, 20 Andy Saull, 21 Luke Baldwin, 22 Adam Powell, 23 Alex Goode.

Date: Saturday, November 19
Venue: Stade Aguilera
Kick-off: 14.30; 13.30 (GMT)
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant referees: Leo Colgan (Ireland), Richard Kerr (Ireland)