Tries from Ben Cairns, Phil Godman, Ross Ford and Andrew Kelly enabled Edinburgh to chalk up a bonus point win over Castres at Murrayfield and handed Scotland’s number one team a slim chance of finishing second in Pool Two of the Heineken Cup.

In front of a crowd of 2, 331, Edinburgh – with five changes to the starting line-up which defeated Ulster seven days previously – started brightly and went ahead through a penalty from Godman.

But some uncharacteristic mistakes in defence were exploited by Castres and the French side ran in tries from Romain Teulet and Ioseka Tekori to lead 14-10 at half-time.

Ben Cairns, who enjoyed one of his most productive nights of the season, scored a scintillating try in between the Castres scores when he picked an incisive line and raced through to score.

Four minutes after the break, Hugo Southwell – later named man of the match – surged forward and put in Godman who crossed the whitewash to mark a famous Edinburgh comeback.

Chris Paterson, who replaced Godman at stand-off, nailed a tricky penalty soon afterwards to put Edinburgh 18-14 up and then the floodgates opened.

Hooker Ford punched an almighty hole in Castres defence and he shrugged off three tackles before dashing towards the try-line to score.

Then deep into stoppage time replacement Kelly, who had come on for Ford, drove over from close range to bring the curtain down on an entertaining game of rugby.

On the injury front, Nick De Luca was forced to go off with a head knock five minutes before half-time and the Scotland centre may be doubtful for next Sunday’s trip to Leinster; the final Pool match in the Heineken Cup.

Not an all-round perfect display, with flashes of genius interspersed with some flawed moments, but it was Edinburgh’s third home win in a row and suggests Andy Robinson’s side are beginning to generate some momentum going into the business end of the season.

Edinburgh: Southwell; A. Turnbull, Cairns, De Luca, Webster, Godman, Laidlaw; Jacobsen, Ford, Kerr, C. Hamilton, Gissing, Newlands, S. Cross, Hogg (captain).
Replacements: Kelly (for Ford), Traynor, Reid (for Cross), Lawrie, M. Blair (Laidlaw), Houston (for De Luca), Paterson (for Godman)

Castres: Bouquie; Milford, Sika, Sanchou, Bourret, Teulet, Senio; Lensing, Terrain, Staibano, Capo Ortega,Gaston, Tomiki, Malonga, Tekori. Replacements: Giorgadze, Hoeft, Saayman, Kulemin, Masoe, Kefu, Bonnefond.