Biarritz Olympique will travel to Adams Park on Saturday (12.30pm) on the back of a season reviving four wins in a row in the Top 14 - and with the kind of experience and fire-power that will present plenty of problems for the home side.
The Frenchmen were one of three Pool runners-up in the Heineken Cup who joined forces with the five Pool winners in the Amlin Challenge Cup to make up the last eight. They ended their Heineken Cup campaign on a high with a 36-5 demolition of the Ospreys that included a hat-trick of tries from the USA speedster Taku Ngwenya.
His pace out wide, along with former England international Iain Balshaw will need to be negated and Wasps will have to ensure they don't give Dimitri Yachvili any chances to show off his goal-kicking skills. He landed five penalties last weekend in the 15-14 home win over ASM Clermont Auvergne.
Not that Wasps are short of quality when it comes to goal kicking. Welsh international Nicky Robinson kicked 51 points to steer the 2003 champions to the top of Pool 3, while former England Under 20 star Elliot Daly demonstrated his long range fire-power in last weekend's much needed Premiership victory over Gloucester.
They will both have Biarritz in their sights as they attempt to notch a notable Basque double for the English prmiershipside after they beat Bayonne at Adams Park in the Pool stages and emerged from a Pool that contained two Top 14 sides.
If it has been a difficult season for both clubs domestically, they have performed well in Europe and have huge pedigrees in both ERC tournaments. Wasps have two Heineken Cups and an Amlin Challenge Cup in their trophy cabinet, while Yachvili, Imanol Harinordoquy, Jerome Thion and Julien Peyrelongue merely have memories of what might have been from their Heineken Cup final defeats in 2006 and 2010.
Biarritz have only won on the road three times in 14 Top 14 and Heineken Cup games this season and, like so many French teams, look vulnerable away from home. That will give Wasps a chance to get amongst them and unsettle them.
It will take a huge effort from the home side, but with the chance to bid for a Heineken Cup ticket next season by winning the title, Dai Young's men will be highly motivated.
