Loose-head prop Fabien Barcella, scrum-half Yann Lesgourges and wing Taku Ngwenya swooped for early tries that saw Biarritz going along at better than a point a minute with Jean-Pascal Barraque adding two conversions.

But Zebre stayed in touch with three penalties from Daniel Halangha (2) and Gonzalo Garcia but when lock Pelu Taele crossed in the 45th minute Biarritz had the bonus point they were after.

Lesgourges got his second and Biarritz's fifth to effectively end Zebre's resistance, with replacement Arnaud Heguy taking just 10 minutes to announce his arrival with their next.

Zebre did have the last word with Dries van Schalkwyk's late try but it was little consolation for the tournament newcomers.