Edinburgh shock Castres

Edinburgh claimed their first victory in the Heineken Cup on French soil with a gutsy 13-6 victory at Castres.

The Scottish side were good value for their win and could have had more than Mark Robertson's try to show for a dominant first-half performance.

But they survived the inevitable late onslaught with few alarms and will feel this result - and even more so their performance - gives them the right to be considered genuine quarter-final contenders.

Chris Paterson had the first chance to register points but his normally reliable boot was for once awry, as a straightforward penalty came back off the upright.

That apart, Castres had the better of the early exchanges, moving the ball fluently across the pitch and threatening to break the defensive line at any moment.

Under that sort of pressure it was almost inevitable that the visitors would infringe and they were pinged for two offsides in quick succession, with Cameron McIntyre knocking over the kicks.

But the game was turned on its head after 15 minutes as the outstanding Mark Blair made the initial break up the middle and sent Robertson on a weaving, jinking run under the sticks.

Paterson added the extras and with an unlikely lead, Edinburgh went on to dominate the rest of the half.

Four times they burst through the Castres line but each time either an error or defiant defence denied them.

The best chance came Paterson's way after gaps appeared in the defence and the ball was shipped out wide, only for the full-back to drop the ball in the act of scoring.

Another slicing run from Robertson created a chance for the forwards on the Castres line, but again a knock-on ended the attack.

Lead

Nevertheless, Edinburgh went in at half-time with a well-deserved 7-6 lead and they quickly improved on that after the break.

Castres went through a series of phases inside their own half but were making no progress against determined defence, when Kirill Koulemine was penalised for going over the top and Paterson punished his indiscretion.

From the re-start Edinburgh were themselves penalised for killing the ball but McIntyre missed a simple penalty chance.

That must have cast more doubts in the Castres players' minds and another Paterson penalty on 49 minutes can only have added to that.

Edinburgh forced a turnover after a Dan Di Luca break and Castres were offside, the inevitable three points following.

The final half-hour belonged to the hosts but they were never really able to create a clear-cut chance.

Their play was littered with errors and Edinburgh seemed content to soak up the pressure and wait for the knock-on.

Lionel Mazars probably bombed the best chance, dropping the ball in good position in front of the posts after a spell of concerted pressure.

That summed up the French side's night and Edinburgh held on without too much alarm to blow Pool 2 wide open heading into the autumn break.