Edinburgh capitalise on Castres indiscipline to reinvigorate Challenge Cup campaign

French visitors play most of match a man down – and capital club take advantage

A rousing first half from Edinburgh reinvigorated their Challenge Cup campaign as they overpowered Castres at Hive Stadium with a bonus-point victory.

The home side harnessed the wind and made the most of French indiscipline during an opening 40 in which they scored four tries, through Wes Goosen, Duhan van der Merwe, Ali Price – his first in Edinburgh colours – and man of the match Matt Currie. Castres came back strongly after the break but the gap was too big and they left the capital empty-handed after a 34-21 defeat.

Edinburgh are now one of four teams on five points in Pool 3 as the Challenge Cup group stage reaches the halfway point. Gloucester, who are Edinburgh’s next European opponents on 13 January, top the table on eight points, while Scarlets are bottom on zero. Black Lion, Castres and Clermont share the middle ground with Edinburgh. The top four qualify for the last 16, with Edinburgh due to play Scarlets away in their final pool match, six days after the Gloucester game. “It's been blown wide open and it was important Castres didn’t get one or two bonus points at the end,” said Stevie Lawrie, Edinburgh’s assistant coach. “The boys managed it well and came away with the five points.”

Edinburgh's Duhan van der Merwe scores his second try during the win over Castres in the EPCR Challenge Cup at Hive Stadium as team-mates Darcy Graham and Wes Goosen look on. (Photo by Ross Parker / SNS Group)

The game quickly came to life with two tries and a red card inside the opening 10 minutes. Castres drew first blood, Antoine Bouzerand capitalising on a loose pass from Grant Gilchrist and running the length of the pitch to score. Pierre Popelin converted. The home support seemed rather stunned but were quickly brought to life as Edinburgh wrestled back control. Price spotted an opportunity down the short side and the ball was moved quickly from Currie to Ben Healy and on to Goosen who scored in the corner. Castres were then reduced to 14 men when centre Andrea Cocagi saw red for an upright head-on-head tackle on Harry Paterson. It didn’t look good and it was no surprise when the Edinburgh full-back failed his HIA. It meant an earlier than planned introduction for Darcy Graham and the Scotland winger was afforded a rousing reception as he stepped off the bench for his first appearance of the season.

Edinburgh didn’t take long to make the extra man count and when Jamie Ritchie won a turnover Pierre Schoeman took a quick tap penalty. The prop was held up over the line but the ball was recycled and Healy looped a long pass out to van der Merwe who scored in acres of space to nudge Edinburgh 10-7 ahead.

Healy had been off target with both conversion attempts but made no mistake with a penalty from halfway, using the wind to his advantage. Castres’ stunning start seemed a distant memory and they had cause to rue their indiscipline once more when a yellow card for Aurelien Azar for scrum infringements saw them go down to 13 men for the final 10 minutes of the first half. The home side quickly pressed home their numerical advantage, adding two more tries before the break. Price got the first, wriggling through after Hamish Watson had picked up at the back of the scrum. The bonus-point score came from Currie after Healy set him free with a delightful flat pass. Healy converted both and Edinburgh went in at the interval 27-7 ahead.

An injury to Javan Sebastian early in the second half saw D’Arcy Rae come on to make his Edinburgh debut but he also required treatment a couple of minutes later. He was able to resume which was just as well as Castres, restored to 14 men, found a new lease of life. The home side held firm and when Adrien Seguret, the Castres outside centre, broke through he was stopped in his tracks by Dave Cherry.

Castres looked to the bench for inspiration which meant an outing for Leone Nakarawa but before the former Glasgow magician could make his mark Edinburgh extended their lead, van der Merwe running a perfect line to score his second try of the match. The winger had Goosen and Graham outside him but they were not required.

Castres produced a late flourish and got the tries their second-half performance deserved. Firstly Wayan de Benedittis burrowed over and Geoffrey Palis converted to reduce Edinburgh’s lead to 34-14. Then Nakarawa marked his return to Scotland with a try which Jeremy Fernandez converted. While they outscored their hosts in the second half it wasn’t enough for a bonus point.

Scorers: Edinburgh: Tries: Goosen, van der Merwe 2, Price, Currie. Cons: Healy 3. Pens: Healy.

Castres: Tries: Bouzerand, de Benedittis, Nakarawa. Cons: Popelin, Palis, Fernandez.

Red card: Cocagi (Castres, 9min). Yellow card: Azar (Castres, 31min)

Edinburgh: H Paterson (D Graham 9); W Goosen, M Currie (M Bennett 67), J Lang, D van der Merwe; B Healy, A Price (B Vellacott 60); P Schoeman (R Hislop 62), E Ashman (D Cherry 49), J Sebastian (D Rae 41), G Young, G Gilchrist (M Sykes 60), J Ritchie (L Crosbie 56), H Watson, V Mata.

Castres: G Palis (T Chabouni 70); N Hulleu, A Seguret, A Cocagi, A Bouzerand; P Popelin (V Botitu 56), G Doubrere (J Fernandez 56); L Guerois-Galisson (W de Benedittis 40), P Colonna (L Zarantonello 40), A Azar (W Hounkpatin 40), G Maravat, F Vanverberghe (L Nakarawa 52), M Babillot, B Cope, A Papalii (W Hounkpatin 33-40; B Delaporte 56).

Referee: Adam Jones (Wales).

Attendance: 6,206.