It was third time lucky for Biarritz Olympique as Dimitri Yachvili produced a quality display of goal-kicking against Bath in the Heineken Cup semi-final.

Brian Ashton's men kept in touch to trail only 9-6 at halftime, and their strong defensive line frustrated the French club, but Bath's dreams of emulating their 1998 Cup victory were shattered by Yachvili's unerring boot.

"We had our opportunities, but we made too many errors and gave away too many penalties," Bath skipper Steve Borthwick admitted.

"They are a good side who put pressure on us, but we made too many simple errors. But I'm immensely proud of this side for the effort in making it this far.

"We'll learn from this game."

Centre Olly Barkley added: "We coughed up too much ball and put ourselves under pressure. They capitalised on that.

"The times we held on to the ball, we caused them some problems, and this is a bitter pill to swallow."

The French side made the brightest start, running their first three touches of the ball to erase memories of their dire quarter-final against Sale
Sharks, and they rewarded with a penalty goal to Yachvili.

Biarritz danger man Sireli Bobo touched the ball more times in the opening 10 minutes than he did in the entire match against the Sharks, but just as fans settled in for a quality game of running rugby, the rain started falling at Estadio Anoeta.

Yachvili (two) and Bath fly-half Chris Malone (two) traded penalty goals as referee Alain Rolland clamped down on the breakdown and the game struggled to get out of the two middle quarters.

TheFrench club went into the break leading 9-6, and in the second period Yachvili continued his metronomic kicking with a fourth goal after Malone and Lipman took Damien Traille out of play with as much subtlety as Mike Tyson, and the margin became nine when Traille slotted a dropped goal.

The pressure began telling on both sides on the hour mark, with the two forward packs trading several heavy punches. Referee Rolland sent Grewcock and Biarritz prop Petru Balan to the bin, and Malone made things interesting with his third goal of the match.

Another Bory break kept the visiting fans on the edge of their seats, but the ball was knocked out of replacement Salesi Finau's hands as the gods continued to smile on the French club.

Bath's confidence of a thrilling comeback died as the clock ticked down, and it was left to Yachvili to hammer home the last coffin nail with his fifth goal.