Northampton Saints coach Paul Grayson admitted his side gifted Biarritz Olympique too much of a head-start at Parc des Sports Aguilera on Sunday...
Last season's losing Heineken Cup finalists stormed to a 22-3 lead after 45 minutes, and Grayson's men came up short, despite a spirited fightback.
He said: "We simply made too many mistakes in the first half and Biarritz graciously accepted the chances we gave them.
"We made all the mistakes we said we wouldn't make. In the second half, we said we'd put the squeeze on them, and we did. We just lacked a bit of composure.
"I thought it was a great performance to come back from 22-3 down. Once they got out to three scores ahead, we could have thrown in the towel, but we were spurred on by our travelling fans and we fought back to put ourselves in with a chance of a bonus point.
"We're kicking ourselves pretty hard for not getting it. Not many teams will get anything out of a trip to Biarritz this season."
Grayson said he was still confident of making the final eight, with matches against Border Reivers and Overmach Rugby Parma coming up.
"Our last game is against Biarritz at home, and I'd love to go into that match, having put ourselves in a position where qualification for the next round rests on our performance."