The Basque giants have twice crashed to heartbreaking Heineken Cup final defeats, in 2006 and 2010, but hope to go one better in the Amlin after cruising past Brive at Stade Aguilera.

Damien Traille crashed over for the crucial try and Dimitri Yachvili kept the scoreboard ticking with a 14-point haul as Biarritz held the 1997 Heineken Cup champions to zero.

Biarritz won the early battle for territory in testing conditions and Yachvili made amends for an earlier miss by booting the hosts into the lead.

Riaan Swanepoel could have hit back but was off-target before Yachvili stretched the hosts' lead following a piercing break from Iain Balshaw.

Biarritz grabbed the opening try on 28 minutes after taking advantage of the wet and windy conditions in the south west of France.

Marcello Bosch launched a huge up-and-under and Traille snatched the ball from the grasps of Ronnie Cooke to score. Yachvili converted to hand the hosts a 13-0 half-time lead.

Brive demonstrated more impetus in the second-half and began to ask questions of Biarritz's defence but were unable to open their account.

Following a prolonged period of scrum dominance George Clancy offered a shot at goal but the former kings of Europe turned the opportunity down and were turned over at the ensuing scrum.

To make matters worse Biarritz worked their way back up field and Yachvili slotted a pair of late penalties to bring the score to 19-0.

Brive refused to give up Poutasi Luafutu launched a powerful counter-attack at the death but his hard work was undone when Alexandre Barozzi was red-carded for punching at the breakdown.