Defeat at the Parc des Sports Aguilera on Sunday afternoon saw the Ospreys European interests ended, and there was no hiding skipper Justin Tipuric's disappointment after the final whistle.
The Trebanos youngster, 22, was his usual all action self against Biarritz, but he was unable to inspire the heroics needed to see the Ospreys through to the Amlin Cup after they were blown away by Biarritz in the opening minutes, never to recover.
Speaking at the obligatory post-match press call, Tipuric’s frustration was clear:
“We knew it was going to be a very tough challenge” he said.
“But from the start we were never in it. Against a team like this, and with the crowd behind them like that, it was tough to get back in. They totally deserved what they got.
We knew Biarritz were a good team, we knew what they can do if we give them an early start, let them get on the front foot, but we let ourselves and our fans down badly today. There’s no hiding from that. It’s very disappointing.
“At half time it was about gathering our thoughts and trying to go out there and fight our way back into it. We wanted to get some early points to give us hope, but it’s all good saying it, we didn’t do it.
“It’s hard to take any positives from this. We know we’ve let everyone down. Maybe we can look at it and say a lot of young players are another year older, have got this experience under their belt, but really, that’s just clutching at straws. We weren’t good enough when it came down to it. We were well beaten and got what we deserved from the game.
“It’s really disappointing for everyone. We knew what was at stake today and for whatever reason it hasn’t happened. We can’t afford to dwell on it, there’s a lot of rugby still to be played and we’ve got to bounce back from this. There’s still a league title to be won, and while everyone is feeling down at the moment, we want to show that we’ve got good spirit and react positively.”