Edinburgh claimed their first Heineken Cup win of the season at Murrayfield on Monday, as a late Simon Webster try helped them overcome French cracks Castres 24-22 in freezing conditions.
The match, which was played behind closed doors because of continuing snow-related problems in and around the stadium, saw Rob Moffat's side clinch a morale-boosting success ahead of the Greaves Sports 1872 Cup derby double-header against Glasgow Warriors.
Webster's score, his second in as many games since returning from injury, was Edinburgh's third of the game, wing kings Tim Visser and Lee Jones having each crossed in the first half.
The absence of spectators made for a surreal spectacle in EH12, but Edinburgh's fifth home win in six in the Heineken Cup gives them a platform to take into the festive showdown with their friends in the west - derby occasions that are sure to be slightly more raucous affairs.
Edinburgh were forced into two late changes to their 23, Craig Hamilton and Andrew Kelly withdrawing due to sickness. Esteban Lozada started in the second row, Dave Denton coming onto the bench, while Lewis Niven took Kelly's spot among the front-row replacements.
Castres put the first points on the board in the fourth minute as Edinburgh were penalised for not rolling away. Stand-off Pierre Bernard did the necessary from a straightforward position. Chris Paterson missed with a much more difficult effort shortly after, but soon took the opportunity to make amends by slotting over the conversion after a great Visser run and hand-off down the left had seen the Dutchman go over in the corner.
Castres hit back immediately, lock Rodrigo Capo Ortega dotting down following a close-range forward rumble. Inside centre Seremaia Baikeinuku converted to put Castres 10-7 up.
As was the case last weekend in the Stade Pierre Antoine, Edinburgh looked the more menacing side in open play, and that man Visser was soon at it again, splicing open the Castres defence with another lung-bursting run, this time down the right. The winger was pulled down just short, but kept his composure to get the ball away to Jones. The former Selkirk favourite surged across the whitewash to record his first competitive score for the club.
Edinburgh took great confidence from this breakthrough, even if they were forced to do a significant amount of defending in the remainder of the half. This task they accomplished to good effect, the midfield defence in particular showing up well as Castres' attempts to send through runners on the crash ball were largely thwarted.
HALF-TIME: EDINBURGH 14 CASTRES 10
Head coach Moffat made an interval change, Jim Thompson emerging from the dressing room in place of Paterson at full-back after the 101-cap international took a blow to the shoulder. David Blair took over the kicking duties, and had an instant opportunity to put some points against his name as Castres were pinged for kicking the ball out of a scrum.
The stand-off duly slotted the ball between the sticks to take Edinburgh's lead to seven points.
In the 57th minute, four further substitutions were made by the capital club. Nick De Luca came on for his first Edinburgh action of the season, Simon Webster replaced Jones, Scott Newlands made way for Alan MacDonald and Denton took Lozada's spot in the second row and thus made his Heineken Cup debut.
The raft of replacements didn't help the flow of what was already a fairly scrappy half, but the players could justifiably point to the plummeting temperatures as a further factor in the lack of fluidity to the game.
The match took a twist in the 65th minute when Greig Laidlaw, the Edinburgh scrum-half, was sent to the sin-bin for not retreating the requisite 10m as Castres took a quick tap-penalty. Things went from bad to worse for the hosts when their scrum was penalised several times in quick succession under the posts, prompting referee Wayne Barnes to lose patience and award a penalty try. Baikeinuku converted to level up the scores.
A triple-whammy of disappointments was completed when replacement Sebastien Tillous Borde squirmed over the line from close range, the only minor consolation for Edinburgh being that the conversion attempt was missed.
Thankfully for the hosts, Webster still had time to steal the show, chasing his own kick ahead and touching down as the Castres defence floundered. Blair’s conversion nudged them into a lead they were not to surrender.
Edinburgh: C Paterson; L Jones, B Cairns, J Houston, T Visser; D Blair, G Laidlaw; A Jacobsen, R Ford, G Cross, S Turnbull, E Lozada, S Newlands, S McInally, R Grant
Replacements: L Niven, K Traynor, D Young, D Denton, A MacDonald, N De Luca, J Thompson, S Webster
Castres: F Denos; V Inigo, R Cabannes, J Baikeinuku, J Tatupu; P Bernard, T Sanchou; M Coetzee, M Bonello, A Peikrishvili, M Rolland, R Capo Ortega, I Diarra, C Masoe (capt), Y Caballero
Replacements: B Kayser, Y Forestier, D Saayman, K Kulemin, JDB Bornman, R Martial, S Tillous Bourde, S Malonga
Heineken Man of the Match: Tim Visser (Edinburgh)
Ref: W Barnes (RFU)
