Biarritz secured an impressive narrow away win at Bath in their first action and the French side – who made the Heineken Cup final last year – will be a tough proposition on home soil.

And while the first to accept the magnitude of the task ahead, McLaughlin – who welcomes back Ireland flanker Stephen Ferris for the clash - is relishing the trip across the channel.

"This is an opportunity to show that we have improved since last year,” said McLaughlin.

"Biarritz are a very talented outfit, with Dimitri Yachvili making them tick from scrum-half, but we feel we can get something from the game.

"We can't afford to make the same mistakes that we did against Aironi or they will punish us.

"We created numerous opportunities against Aironi but we failed to execute many of them, although we came away with four tries and a bonus point in the end.

"We won't get half as many opportunities against Biarritz so it is important that when we have an opportunity to score, we take it."