Borders should take heart - Bates

Borders were level at 17-all up until the 79th minute when French international Dimitri Yachvili unleashed a superb cross-field kick for Fijian flier Sereli Bobo to poach the first of his two late tries to seal the win.

But having been dominated 25-0 the previous week by Biarritz at Netherdale, Borders showed plenty of spirit to force their way back from 17-3 down at half-time to push the reigning French champs all the way.

"I thought the boys were fantastic, there were some great performances," said Bates.

"The challenge for us now is to take some of that stuff and put it into the Magners League.

"We scrummaged well and the line-out went well, which was our Achilles heel the previous week.

"The defence was outstanding, we just had a bit of indiscipline at the end.

"We did well when we got in behind them and I thought what we did was outstanding, there were lots of things to be positive about.

"It would have been one of the biggest upset in Heineken Cup history, but I think the boys enjoyed the experience, they are disappointed, but they took a lot from it.

"Biarritz brought on the big guns after we drew level, which showed how much pressure we had put them under.

"Yachvili's cross-field kick was top draw and that shows the sort of player he is."

Replacement scrum-half Yachvili said Biarritz were delighted to have picked up their third bonus point win of the campaign.

The French side are on course to become the first side in Heineken Cup history to qualify with maximum points with games against Northampton Saints and Overmach Parma to come in the new year.

He said: "We are very pleased with the result to get the bonus point, we let our concentration slip at times during the game.

"And I am just glad we were able to put things right before the end to get the result we needed.

"I know there has been talk about us going through with maximum points, but the most important thing is us to qualify for the quarter-finals.

"We have two important games after Christmas and we have to take it one game at a time."