James Simpson-Daniel's first-half try was upstaged in the south of France by Biarritz's Dimitri Yachvili, who scored 14 points, including a brilliant 13th-minute touchdown.

The hosts galloped into a 17-10 interval lead in atrocious conditions thanks to tries from Yachvili and Imanol Harinordoquy - before Julien Peyrelongue sealed the victory.

Gloucester coach Dean Ryan said: "The last three weeks we have played in horrendous weather conditions and we ran the ball more than we should have.

"But we have to play better than that in those conditions. We've got to work on our kicking game and we always pride ourselves on moving the ball around.

"But that has come crashing down around us in the last few weeks."